Dreamer
by Jayfish
Summary: Leoma is an orphaned girl from Munich who would do anything to make it to Amestris.  But when she strikes a deal with Truth, Guardian of the Gate, she starts a chain of events that are thoroughly out of her control.
1. Beginning

_Munich, Germany, 1927_

"It's not going to work."

I stared at the book open in my lap, trying to pretend that I hadn't just heard those words from Edward Elric's mouth. Edward Elric! The boy never gave up. Not unless there was no point in continuing.

"He's right, Leoma," Noah said softly, looking at me with her huge brown eyes imploringly. "I know you wanted to go to that world so much… So did I, once. But it wasn't meant to be. The Gate is shut. There's no way back."

Ignoring the three of them any longer wasn't going to help me feel any better. I sighed and shut the book with a snap, leaning against the hard wooden chair in Edward's dusty apartment. Closing my eyes, I ran a finger through my insanely curled brown hair, flipping it to cover my eyes the way I liked it. I was probably the only girl in the world that had such strange hair, and I did my best to keep it where everyone could see it. It was the only physical characteristic I could be proud of. My skinny, flat-chested frame wasn't all that much to look at, and my gray eyes were too cold to be considered pretty.

"Leoma? Are you alright?" Alphonse was looking at me, concern evident in his golden eyes. The same golden eyes that had first spied me, hidden away in a doorstep in the dead of winter. Alphonse had been the one who had told me about something better.

"I'm alright," I said. "It's just… I hate this world. I hate it so, so much. Isn't that funny, that someone should hate their own world so much that they would do anything to escape from it?"

"Leoma!" Alphonse said. He glared at me reproachfully. "Don't talk like that."

"Well," I said, "Maybe I wouldn't do anything. But this world took everything from me. My parents, my sister; my life. And yet I live. But I want to live somewhere better than here, before this sick world takes away somebody else I care about." There was no emotion in my voice; I'd broached this topic with Ed, Alphonse and Noah many times, and it didn't hurt anymore to talk about it. I only still felt the pain at night, in my dreams.

Ed leaned back in his chair, setting off a loud squeal that dulled my dark mood. "What?" He asked, golden eyes blazing in the way that only his could. "Finally admitting that you care about us, Leoma? And you have such trouble with emotions."

I groaned. "That is most definitely in part your fault," I said. "Maybe if you didn't laugh every time I said something meaningful, I'd say meaningful things more often." The banter didn't upset me unduly. Edward was right; in the two years I'd been searching for the other world with Noah, Ed and Alphonse; I hadn't ever talked much about caring. It was something of a superstition; as soon as I started to care, something awful happened. And for some reason, I'd gotten it into my head that it was different in the other world. Ever since Alphonse had brought little orphaned me back to Ed and Noah and Noah had nursed me back to health and told me all about Amestris, the place had sung to me in my dreams, filling every fiber of my body with a desperate longing.

_I used to feel that way too, _Noah had told me once, as she was wringing out the laundry and setting it on the line, humming as she worked. _But now that we've settled in Munich once and for all, I feel like I finally have a home. I don't need Amestris anymore. I have Ed, Al, and you. Who else would I need?_

_ What about me? _I had asked her. _Why do I care so much? _Noah had placed a satiny hand on my forehead, and closed her eyes in concentration.

_This world is a curse for you, _she'd said. _I can feel it inside you. You don't just dislike it. You don't belong here. There is alchemy in your soul, Leoma._

I sighed heavily, returning to the present. "That's it, then?" I asked, looking at the open book in my lap. "We're done? There's most definitely no way to get to Amestris?"

Ed shook his head. He was only twenty years old, but when he looked at me he looked as though he were a hundred. "There isn't a way," he said. "Sometimes I wish I hadn't closed that Gate, but… I mean, another Thule Society might show up, and I don't really feel like another alchemical battle. Not that the last one wasn't great and all that."

"Don't be upset, please, Leoma," Alphonse said, putting a hand on my shoulder. "We'll move out of Munich, if you'd like. To the country, maybe. It's almost as good as Amestris."

"No," I said, immediately. "We're staying in Munich. You two are not quitting your fancy rocket engineering jobs now. I'm seventeen. I'm a big girl now. I'll survive." A lie, but a good one, constructed with a grain of truth at its core. I would survive yes, but that wouldn't stop me from feeling as though part of my heart had been cleaved away. I'd fallen in love with Amestris, and sure enough, it had been stolen from me.

Alphonse patted me on the back. "Thanks, Leoma," he said. "I know the country would be great, but the rockets are getting so much better! Soon space travel will be possible. You're right; we can't leave now!" He didn't even mention the possibility of our group splitting, and I refused to consider it. We had been together for so long we all felt like different parts of the same entity. Breaking apart would be too painful to be worth it.

Noah caught my eye from across the circle of chairs and I saw that her eyes were huge. She alone was the one who saw past all the lies I'd been spouting, and I could feel her heart breaking for me. In some ways she felt like the mother I'd only had for about a year, despite the fact that she was Edward's age. I smiled at her, my expression no doubt tinged with regret, and she returned the smile with a smaller one of her own.

"Now what?" Ed said, looking at his boots and wiggling his prosthetic leg. "We've been hunting for a way back to Amestris for so long, and this book was our only hope. Now that we accept that it's never going to happen… What do we do?"

"Whatever it was you were doing before I came along," I said. "I'm the one who was obsessed with Amestris anyway. Weren't you doing something before Alphonse found me?"

"We were traveling through Germany," Noah said. " We actually destroyed the weapons Adolf Hitler and his lot were going to use to start a revolution, and then we just… wandered. Al and Ed got the engineering jobs after we found you to fund our search for the Gate, but before that we'd been nomads. I don't think I want to go back to that."

"Why not?" Ed said, leaning back in his chair and wolfing down a sausage from who knows where. "I'm getting kinda bored with Munich. Other than Gracia and Hughes, we don't even have any interesting people to visit, and we have to meddle with rockets all day. I'm all for moving out."

"Shut up, big brother," Alphonse said absentmindedly. "You love your job. Don't try to pretend like you don't."

"Whatever," Edward said. "I'm just saying: there are other- Oh crap!" He was staring in horror at his silver pocket watch. "It's almost time for work! I'm gonna be late, and we're working on the lunar module today!" He bolted from his chair and dashed out of the room.

Al got to his feet. "And he says he doesn't like his job," he mumbled. Turning to the Noah and me, he shrugged. "I'd better go too," he said. "We _are _working on something big today." He turned to go, paused, and came back to us, wrapping an arm around us both. "I'm sorry about Amestris," he whispered. "I know you both wanted to go there."

"It's okay," we both said, simultaneously, and laughed a little. Al kissed each of us on the cheek.

"Bye, Noah, Leoma," he said, and was gone. I smiled at his receding figure; Al, Ed and Noah all felt like my siblings, and Al was the compassionate, easily relatable brother. Noah was his female counterpart. Actually, the only one who wasn't filled with compassion was Ed, and he only pretended to be a jerk.

I looked at Noah. "How are you holding up?" She smiled.

"I'm alright," she said. "After we settled here in Munich, Amestris became something of a lost dream for me. I found my place in this world, so I didn't need it anymore. Besides, I knew we were never going to make it to Amestris anyway."

I frowned. "You knew?" I said.

Noah nodded slowly. "Oh, yes," she said. "I've seen Edward Elric's dreams, you remember. He may not know it, but he is the most powerful alchemist any world has ever seen, yet. If he closed the Gate and didn't leave a loophole for himself, there was no way it was going to reopen, no matter what we did to it."

I sighed. Noah was right, of course. She usually was. "Well," I said, getting to my feet. "I guess that's it, then."

Noah got to her feet as well and hugged me, hard. "This may not have worked out for us, Leoma, but don't worry. You'll find a place for yourself someday, just like I did." She released me and fondly brushed a lock of hair out of my face, and glanced at the clock on the wall.

"It's nearly time for breakfast. Do you want me to buy us some eggs?" I smiled. Noah knew perfectly well how much I loved eggs.

"I do, thanks," I said, and Noah's smile grew an inch. No doubt she thought I was back on the healthy track to recovering from an unhealthy obsession.

"Great!" She said. "You just sit tight for ten minutes and I'll be back with the eggs." She hurried out of the room, humming wistfully to herself.

I managed to keep it together for five minutes. And then I lost it.

"Damn it." I said. "Damn it, damn it, damn it!" I whirled around and slammed my fist into the doorframe, ignoring the flecks of paint and plaster showering onto my thin frame. "I hate this world! I hate it! And now the damn Gate won't open and I'm going to be stuck here for the rest of my goddamn life!" It felt good to finally be really angry, and not just to wallow in self-pity.

"I have no life here," I growled, my voice low, my fingers clenched. "I want a new life. In Amestris. Do you hear that, whatever the hell it is that's keeping the Gate shut?" I was shouting at the ceiling, half-crazed, but I knew that maybe if I could just get rid of the anger now I could live a productive life afterwards, even in Munich.

"You don't understand! How could you understand? Amestris was everything I wanted; all I wanted! The hunt for Amestris was my life! _I would do anything!_"

_Anything, huh?_

_ Well, that changes things, doesn't it?_

_ My Gate hasn't been open in a long, long time._

_ But if you would do _anything_…_

_ Maybe it's time for that to change._

And then I was falling into a swathe of yellow light, my only thought before everything turned black being: _what the hell have I gotten myself into now?_

_ And why am I so happy about it?_


	2. Truth

I fell onto the ground with a thump.

Actually, the terminology ground was a bit misleading, as the surface under me was not what I would usually describe as ground. It was slick, smooth and black, spreading out in the distance for what seemed like forever.

Only one thing marred the landscape. There was a massive set of doors suspended in space. An eye stared at me, emblazoned on the Door's side. "Oh," I said. "Is this… Is this Amestris?"

_Nope, _a voice echoed, in my head and in the air around me all at once. _You still have a ways to go._

I turned around slowly, blinking dazedly. A white figure with a massive smile lounged behind me, looking at me despite the fact that it had no eyes that I could see. "You're Truth," I said.

_You know me, _it said. _Surprise. After all, I am you, and you are me. _

"Edward Elric told me about you," I said, trying to keep the fear out of my voice. I hadn't expected to ever have to face down Truth alone. On my imagination, the four of us had demanded entryway into Amestris together, and Truth had backed down. Of course, I had forced my way here by acting like a selfish idiot, and now I was alone.

_It serves you right, _Truth said, as though it knew what I was thinking. _You thought that this would be easy? You were wrong. And, if I remember correctly, you promised me anything. _

"I did," I said. "And I'll still give it to you."

Truth walked towards me, putting one white hand on my arm. I did my best not to flinch away from its presence. _How about an arm? _Its voice whispered, in my head. _What are you going to do with an arm in Amestris? Isn't it your utopia? I assume you thought that nobody needed arms there. Or a leg? I'll admit, a leg is a good thing to keep, but you have a price to pay. And a much bigger one than anyone else who's come this way._

I found that my breath was coming in short gasps. Sweat trickled down my hairline. "What do you mean?" I asked. Truth repulsed me. It terrified me. But I had made it a promise, and this was the price of my foolishness.

_ Look around yourself, _Truth said, waving a hand. I looked. Everything was black, except for the doors, me, and Truth. I frowned.

"Wasn't everything supposed to be white? That's what Ed told me."

Truth's smile seemed to grow a few inches. _Ed came when the Portal was open, _Truth said. _This is the closed version. Your price includes opening this whole place up once again. _My heart sank. The place was massive. According to Ed, several homunculi had died just to open the Gate the first time. What was I going to have to give up to open it again?

Truth's grip on my arm became painful. _I think that I will be taking this arm, _it said. _And what else… You need to pay for passing through the Gate as well. You know what you don't need? A kidney. You have two of them; me taking one isn't going to kill you._

"So that's my price? An arm and a kidney, to open the Portal of Truth and pass through it? That doesn't seem like much." I knew pointing it out was probably a stupid idea, but Truth knew what it was doing better than me. Why was the price so low? The idea of losing an arm and a kidney didn't much appeal to me, but it was better than losing my head, which is what I'd been expecting.

_Oh, there's more, _Truth said. _After all, the homunculi that opened the Gate last time… They had to die to open this place. Do you think that it's fair that you get to stay alive and they don't? _Swallowing hard, I shook my head. _They died because of the energy they contained, _Truth explained. _But now that you've woken me up, I am all the energy this place needs. I won't need the homunculi anymore. So I'm giving them to you._

"Oh, God," I whispered. The price was much, much more than I ever could have imagined. Because of my selfish desires, I was releasing a scourge on the city of Amestris. I hadn't even been there yet and was already destroying the place that I had hoped would one day be my home.

Truth seemed to reach inside its body, which evidently wasn't as corporeal as I'd thought, and began to pull. Something long and clearly serpentine was dragged out, eyes closed. "Envy," I said, recognizing the dragon-like creature. Ed had spent a long hour explaining everything about Envy to me. The shape-shifting homunculus had fascinated me in a way the others had not. "He's the most dangerous," I murmured aloud.

Truth dropped Envy to the floor and he fell with a crash. His lips pulled back from his teeth in a sleepy snarl, but he remained asleep. _Don't worry, _Truth said. _He won't wake up until he's back in Amestris. _Truth immediately reached inside itself again and pulled out a wild-looking black-haired boy.

"Wrath," I said. "I hope he's still on the right side… I'm going to need all the help I can get with Envy back in Amestris."

_Gluttony, too, _Truth reminded me, pulling a horrific monstrosity out of its body. I flinched and walked backwards, away from the massive multi-limbed horror Truth dropped to the ground at my feet.

I looked down at the three sleeping homunculi, gnawing at the inside of my cheek. "What have I done?" I whispered.

_You've started a lot of things, Leoma, _Truth said. _I think it's time to head on and see what you've created. _I heard a loud screech, and something grabbed my waist. I looked down to see a black hand circling around me. I felt another tap, and turned around. There was a swarm of little hands coming out of the doors, reaching out to grab me and the three homunculi. The homunculi were pulled in first and vanished inside the now-open doors. The little hands still held me tightly, but didn't pull me away.

Truth stepped towards me and grabbed my left arm. Immediately it began to dissolve, and Truth's smile grew massive as my arm was absorbed into its own. _And now for the kidney, _it said. It plunged its hand inside my abdomen. There was no pain, only the strange sensation of something being pulled away. And then Truth removed its hand.

The blackness around me burst into a dazzling white. _And the Portal is now open, _Truth said. _Thank you for helping me, Leoma. You're the first person in a long time willing to give up anything for something they love._

The hands began to drag me back, but I resisted, straining to stay near Truth. "Wait," I panted, reaching out for him. "Ed. Al. Noah. They need to get through here too. You have to let them."

_Don't worry, _Truth said. _The Portal is open now. This time, I will be keeping it open as well; I won't let them close it. On that you have my word. You can come home any time you like. And they can come to Amestris any time they like. I will not stop them. _It turned away from me and began to walk into the blinding whiteness, and the hands finally managed to jerk me off my feet.

I was dragged towards the doors, and didn't resist. _Isn't this what you always wanted, Leoma? _I thought to myself. _A way into Amestris. Now you have it. Plus, you've managed to endanger the lives of thousands of people. An added bonus!_

I was almost inside the doors. Truth was watching me go, and it raised my arm and waved at me solemnly. _Good luck, _I thought I heard it whisper, though I couldn't be sure.

And then the little hands yanked me through the doors, and everything transformed into a world of pain.

"Auuuugh!" I screamed, clutching at the stump of my arm. "Aaaah! Noooo!" I had no idea where I was, and because of the extreme pain emanating from my arm stump and my abdomen, I didn't feel like finding out.

I turned over and vomited blood. It splashed over the white surface beneath me. I looked up dazedly and took in the buildings around me. It appeared as though I was in some kind of underground cavern filled with buildings. _This is the place where Alphonse opened the Gate the last time, _I thought, grimly. _I guess it makes sense that I should come back to this place. _My mouth felt metallic, and I opened my jaws and watched as more blood flooded onto the cold stone beneath me. My arm was still gushing blood, and there was a rapidly-growing pool of the stuff around me.

I heard a soft groan, and turned to look. Wrath the homunculus lay a few feet away from me. He was blinking dazedly and moving slightly. Gluttony lay a few more yards away. It didn't look like he was ready to wake up yet, which was fine with me. In my pitiful state I'd be snapped up in no time.

Envy was curled up on the bell tower of the church above me, his serpentine body lithe and dangerous_. He could be coming around any second. I have to get out of here. _The Gate crackled and sparked a few feet to my right. There was no way I was going back through there. Not even if I died alone down here.

Wrath suddenly bolted to his feet. "Please!" He yelled, eyes shut, as if he were in pain. "I just wanna go home, to where mommy is! _AAAAHH_-huh?" He opened his eyes. His expression changed from one of pain to confusion, and then realization, and then…anger. "What is this?" He growled. "I was with mommy! Why am I back? Who brought me here?" His furious gaze turned to me. "Who are you!" He snapped. "Is this your fault? Were you the one who took me away from mommy?"

"I… yes," I whispered, blood trickling down my chin. Wrath was going to kill me. I knew he would. I would never even get to really see Amestris. I was going to die in this underground place. I coughed, bringing up a little more blood.

Wrath hissed and lunged, crouching next to my prone head. "Why would you do that?" He yelled. "I was happy! I was with mommy!"

"It was… an accident. I didn't mean to bring you back. I'm... _ack_… sorry." Wrath stared at me for a minute, his huge eyes narrowed in suspicion.

"You're dying, human," he said, looking at the blood. "What happened to you?"

"The Gate," I wheezed. "I paid the price… for trying to get through. I opened the Portal. So Truth brought you back."

Behind us, Gluttony snorted. "You should run…" I said. "Gluttony is waking up. Envy's here too. They hate you."

"You know all about me, human! How?" I coughed again, and from the amount of blood that splattered from my parted lips, I knew my time was almost up.

"I… I can't…" My vision was dimming. My abdomen ached, and my arm burned like fire. I was dying.

I felt something grab me, and I was lifted into the air. "You have to stay alive, human girl," Wrath whispered. "Cuz I've got a lot of questions." I tried to answer him, but my tongue was too coated with blood to make a sound, and gradually everything spiraled away.


	3. Alchemist

I came to and immediately heard a chorus of beeps. Blearily, I opened my eyes, and a white room swam into focus. For a moment, I panicked, thinking that somehow I'd been dragged back to the Portal of Truth, but then I noticed the monitor on the wall and the tubes stretching from my right arm to a rack of fluid in a bag and I realized that I was in a hospital.

It appeared that the annoying beeping sound had summoned a nurse, because a young woman in a starched white uniform with glasses burst into the room with a clipboard. "You're awake!" She said excitedly, waving the clipboard. "Oh, I'm just so excited! I mean, you're my first patient and everything, and I want to prove to my mother that I can do it, I can really be a nurse and not read books when I should be taking care of patients and I can actually do the right thing and not kill anyone and I can take care of her because I can take care of others at the hospital and I can- hey, are you still vomiting blood?"

I shrugged. "Am I?" I rasped. "I can't see my mouth; I really don't know."

"Well, it's only a little," the nurse said, wiping at my lips with the sleeve of her uniform. "I'm Sheska, by the way," she added busily, rearranging the tubes in the rack.

I gaped. "Sheska?" I wheezed. "The bookworm woman?"

Sheska turned to look at me. "Well, yes," she said, apparently not offended that I'd called her a bookworm. "Although now I guess I'm the nurse woman. I quit my job at the military. But how do you know me? I don't think I've ever met you before."

"A couple of friends of mine used to know you," I said evasively. I didn't really want to tell anybody about the fact that I'd accidentally let three potentially murderous homunculi back into Amestris, and if I let the fact that I was from a parallel universe slip, the topic would probably come up.

"Really?" She asked, eyes sparkling. "What did they say about me?"

_She was really annoying, _Ed had said casually, _but it was a good thing for us she was such a book freak!_

_ She was a really great person, _Al had said. _Brave, loyal, and determined. I liked her a lot. _I went with the second one.

"They said you were great. Brave, loyal, determined, you name it." Sheska gasped, stars in her eyes.

"Really? Who are these friends of yours, anyway?"

"Um… I…" I winced suddenly. "Oww. My arm; it really, really hurts." The wince hadn't been fabricated; the stump of my arm burned like fire. I still couldn't really believe that I was missing my left arm. I'd never be able to smack Ed while reading again. Unless, of course, I could get my hands on some automail.

"Oh, of course," Sheska said. "I'll get you some pain killer." She left the room in a hurry, and I closed my eyes and tried to ignore what felt like an open flame in my abdomen.

"I'm baaaaaack!" Sheska announced, slamming open the door so hard I jumped. "With the pain killers," she added, shaking the little bottle in my direction. She hurried to my side and placed one in my open mouth. "Swallow," she said, and I did, not even bothering to tell her that you swallowed pills with water. All I wanted was some relief from the fire.

"Aaaah," I moaned, lying back. Blissful waves of nothingness spread throughout my body, and I had a feeling I was probably grinning like a loon. "That is much, much better."

"I'm so glad!" Sheska cried, tears in her eyes behind the glasses. "When we found you on our doorstep, nobody thought you were going to make it. But you pulled through!"

"You found me… On the doorstep?" I asked. Wrath must have known a human hospital could take better care of me than he could, and he probably hadn't wanted to admit me himself. That meant he was coming back for me, and I still wasn't sure whether he hated me or not.

Sheska nodded gravely, sitting on the edge of my bed. "Mm-hm," she said. "What happened to you, anyway? You look as though you were in a terrible accident. When we found you, doctors had to figure out why you were coughing up blood, and they realized that you were missing a kidney!" She paused for dramatic effect. "And the weird thing is, there was no other wound. It was almost as if someone had magically spirited away your kidney!" She laughed. "But what really happened? If you don't mind my asking."

For a second, I froze, trying to sort out some kind of story in my mind. "Um, well, I don't really remember," I said weakly, fervently wishing I was a better liar. "I was at home and then there was this flash and I woke up here." It wasn't good, but Sheska seemed like the type that would believe anything I told her.

Sheska's eyes got very wide. "You don't think… That you were kidnapped by aliens, do you?" I stared at her, and Sheska, apparently mistaking my blank look for one of realization, went on, nodding her head. "And the aliens stole your arm and your kidney for medical research! It all makes sense!"

"Um, Sheska," I interrupted. "I'm sure it was something strange. But I have a feeling that aliens have nothing to do with this."

"Oh," said Sheska, looking downcast. "Well, you're the victim. You would know best, probably." She got to her feet. "I have to go back to the doctors now," she said, "to tell them that you're awake. You'll be happy to know that you missing one kidney isn't going to hurt you in any way, because the doctors tied off all the bleeding ends with alchemy, as well as on the stump of your arm. Isn't that great?"

"Yeah," I said, trying not to imagine never having a flesh and blood left arm again. I couldn't. "It's just great."

"Well, gotta go!" Sheska said. She turned to go, and then looked back, blushing. "I'm sorry!" She said. "I never asked your name."

"Leoma," I said, using my right hand to brush the hair out of my eyes. "I'm Leoma."

"That's a beautiful name," Sheska said sincerely. "Now, Leoma, your kidney and arm may be healed, but I don't want you exerting yourself at all today. Just stay in bed and sleep. Tomorrow I'll bring the doctors in and we can discuss what happened to you, okay? Just ring that little bell by the bed if you need me!" Sheska turned and left the room. I yawned and closed my eyes, completely worn out form my talk with Sheska. Not that I had said much of anything. Turned out Ed and Al had forgotten to mention that part; she was quite the talker.

Whatever Sheska had given me was really making me exhausted. The physical relief of no pain didn't really give me energy, either. And my encounter with Truth had really just left me burnt out.

A very, very small part of my mind warned me that I should be trying to figure out something to do about my homunculus situation, but the drugs and my frazzled nerves effectively shut that part up. I surrendered myself to sleep, reminding myself firmly that I was in the hospital in Central, no doubt, where absolutely nothing could get to me…

When I woke up, Wrath was sitting at the end of my bed.

"Ack!" I yelped, scooting up to my pillow and drawing my legs as far away from the boy as I could get. His eyes were gleaming in the dark of my room; I'd slept the entire day. "Wrath," I said. "How did you get in?"

Wrath pointed at the window. "I climbed," he said. His dark eyes were narrowed. "We're going now," he added. I looked around myself, at the soft sheets on the hospital bed and the tubes in my sole remaining arm that, for all I knew, could mean life or death for me. And I looked back at Wrath. He had a stubborn scowl on his young face, and I remembered that I'd dragged him from a place where he had been at peace.

"Alright," I said. Wrath flipped off my bed and gave me an impatient stare.

"Hurry!" He said. "If another human comes in here I could get in trouble." It was true. No doubt everyone in Amestris believed their homunculus problem to be over. Little did they know that I had just reignited the whole issue, and this time the Elric brothers weren't going to be around to save them.

_Not yet, at least, _I reminded myself. _But Noah must have seen the Gate when she got back home after buying me eggs… I can't believe I abandoned her like that. And Noah is smart; she probably waited for Ed and Al to get home before entering the Gate herself. And if it's night already, they've probably all made it over here. Now all I have to do is find them._

Slowly, I swung my legs over the bedside and got to my feet. I swayed a bit; the pain killer had almost completely worn off and my abdomen and arm stump were assailed by stabbing pains whenever I moved them too much. I groaned at the sight of my hospital gown. It reached my knees and was probably made of paper. Not the best material for climbing out an open window, which was probably what Wrath had in mind.

Wrath jogged to the window and bounced in place, burning off steam. "Come on!" He said, referring to my hobbling, turtle-like gait. "Hurry!"

"I'm hurrying," I muttered, staggering towards the window. I felt something burning in my arm, and in the next second the tubes protruding from it were dangling from their rack. Breathing heavily, I made it to the windowsill and put my one arm out for balance, forgetting that the second was currently residing in the Portal of Truth. I trembled and started to pitch out the open window, but Wrath grabbed me by the back of my neck, apparently thinking that the hospital gown was too thin to be able to hold onto.

"Be more careful, human," Wrath said. "I still have questions." I swallowed nervously, briefly wondering what would happen when I satisfied Wrath's curiosity. Wrath pointed to a tree growing a few feet away from the windowsill. "We're going to climb down that tree," he announced, and vaulted off the sill. He landed easily amongst the branches and turned to give me an impatient look.

"Oh, crap," I said. Three feet was not very far. It was an almost ridiculously small jump to make. On any other day, I would have no problem with it. Of course, on most days I didn't just happen to lose both an arm and a kidney. Asking Wrath for help would be fruitless; he was smaller than I was. I was just going to have to vault myself from the sill and hope to God that Sheska had meant something else when she'd banned me from partaking in any strenuous activities.

"Human…" Wrath said warningly. No point in putting it off.

"Coming," I said, and vaulted myself off the edge.

It wasn't enough. One nanosecond into my jump and I knew it wasn't enough. I reached out for the branch in a futile effort to grab on. My one hand grasped the thicker part of the branch for about a second, and I briefly entertained the notion that I might actually make it. Then gravity pulled me off the branch and I began to fall.

I realized as I looked down that I was falling headfirst down about four stories. The landing would be fatal, to be certain. I could faintly hear a furious-sounding Wrath yelling something over the roar of the wind in my ears, but I was too busy viewing seeing my life pass before me to pay him any mind.

_You sure are a dope, _Ed told me, shaking his prosthetic arm in my general direction.

_Be nice to the cats in heaven, _Al said.

_MOOOOO, _said a cow that I honestly couldn't say I recognized.

_At least you aren't being kidnapped by aliens! _Sheska cheered.

I realized that I'd screwed my eyes shut and opened them to find that I was almost a foot from -becoming a Leoma-pancake and the cement below. "I'm really going to die this time," I said.

Something tingled in my veins, and I felt something stretching on my back. Then I found myself running parallel to the ground. It was almost as if someone had attached a parachute to my back at the last possible second. Albeit one that I could move, because I found that whatever it was on my back responded on instinct. I wanted to go to the left, and found myself zipping left, the things on my back moving to accommodate my wishes.

There was nothing else for it. I looked up, and was not at all surprised to see a set of massive purple wings stretching from my shoulder blades. They looked almost like the wings of the dragons in the illustrated books Noah had shown me in the bookshop back in Munich. _Munich, _I thought. _I don't even think of it as home anymore. I've been here for less than a day and I already feel like I belong. Which I obviously do, because I think I just performed human transmutation. On myself._

I stretched the wings and hurtled into the air, flinging out my one arm. The sky was dark and sprinkled with stars, and smelled of rain. I was in love. _This is where I really belong, _I thought. _Flying. Thank God for alchemy._

I angled my wings and headed towards the tree where Wrath still clung. I knew that in a few minutes I was going to have to wonder how the hell I did alchemy without even trying, how I suddenly knew how to fly, and how exactly I changed my own shape. But right now I was breathing in the air and didn't care at all. Flying didn't even hurt my abdomen as much as walking did. It was incredible.

I landed on Wrath's branch so hard it shook the whole tree. I was breathing heavily, and I looked up at Wrath. He stared back at me with surprised eyes. "Well," he said finally, and smirked. "You had to waste time with the fancy flying, didn't you?"

I wanted to kill him.


	4. Dragon

"… and then you must have taken me to that hospital, because I woke up there," I finished. I'd told Wrath my entire story in an alley not too far from the hospital. We were sitting on trash cans, my legs dangling over the edge and Wrath's shorter legs jutting out at odd angles.

"So," Wrath said, looking at me with his strange violet eyes. "You woke up Envy and Gluttony and took me away from mommy because you _wanted to see Amestris?" _

"When you say it like that…" I sighed. "I am such an asshole."

"Mm-hm," Wrath agreed. He gazed at the wings stretched out on my back. They arched from my shoulder blades, looking as though they'd always been there. It felt almost like the bones of the wings and those of my spine had been fused together by some creepy form of alchemy that my subconscious evidently knew how to perform. I stretched out one wing experimentally. The color was really striking; deep and regal. They weren't perfect; the edges were almost ragged and they took up a lot of space, but I already knew that they would be a huge asset in the days to come. They had already saved me from an unfortunate end on the cement below my window, and each one had a claw poking out from the end of the wing's longest bone. I had tested one of the two claws on the flesh of my remaining arm. I was still bleeding.

"Those wings," Wrath said. "You made them with alchemy, right? But I thought you said you couldn't do alchemy in the other world."

"I couldn't," I said. "I don't know how I did this. It was a reflex, I think." The back of my throat tickled, and I coughed once. "I hadn't even thought of alchemy before tonight."

"Okay," Wrath said. He slid off his trash can and landed on the street below, flexing. "Bye," he announced, heading deeper into the alley.

For a moment, I stared at Wrath's receding form. Then my annoyance got the better of me and I started after him. "Hey!" I said, and he turned around. "Where are you going?"

"I'm leaving," Wrath said impatiently, pawing at the ground with one foot like a horse. I gaped at him.

"_Leaving?_" I asked. "But what about me?"

Wrath shrugged. "Go back to the hospital," he said. "Now I know all about you, and how you know all about me. That's all I wanted. Well, not true," he added. "I wanted to know why you took me away from my mommy. Because if it had been for the wrong reason..." His violet eyes glittered.

"Wait," I said. "You're saying that my own greedy wish was the right intention?"

Wrath shook his head. "I'm still angry at you," he said, "but mommy taught me not to hate. So I don't hate you. And, because I don't hate you, I was willing to look past what you did. There was only one thing I would have killed you for, anyway, and it wasn't greed. I don't mind that you're greedy. I knew Greed, and he wasn't untrustworthy. He always did what I thought he'd do. So you're probably just like him, and I guess that means I can trust you."

I nodded slowly. Wrath's logic made sense, even if it completely screwed up the mental image I'd had of myself. _I may be greedy, _I thought, _but here I'll do the right thing. I'll let him go; even if it means that I dragged myself all the way here and nearly died for nothing. _

Of course, I still had a question. "What was the one thing that you would have killed me for?" I asked softly, staring into those fascinating eyes.

Wrath smiled at me beatifically. "If you'd woken me up so that you could use me," he said, "I would have torn you apart." He saluted me with his metal arm, turned, and ran off into the darkness.

I coughed again. The tickle at the back of my throat had gotten worse, and my eyes were watering. It didn't help that my arm stump was aching and once again my abdomen felt as though I'd swallowed a rusty pair of scissors. "I've got to go back," I said, and coughed again, louder. The tickle had grown, and now it felt as though I'd swallowed a pepper. _I hate peppers, _I thought, stretching my wings and breaking into a run. When I felt I'd reached the apex of my running speed in my present condition, I hurled myself forward and beat the wings as hard as I could. It was strenuous, but there was a sweet-smelling breeze in the air that helped lift me into the sky.

Wings outstretched, I soared through the air like a bird, albeit a greedy one with a ridiculous paper hospital gown that seemed about ready to tear. It had held up remarkably well after being punched through by my wings, but I had a bad feeling it wasn't going to be long before I was flying naked over Amestris.

"Hospital," I wheezed. There were tears in my eyes from the night air against them and the tickle at the back of my throat that was beginning to feel like an open flame. I coughed in midair explosively, wondering if an alchemical surgeon had accidentally transmuted a pepper into the back of my throat. Out of all the strange things that had happened to me in under twenty-four hours, I wouldn't even be surprised.

I spotted the tree outside the hospital and turned my body until I was flying towards it. I could see that my window was shut from across the square, and I growled under my breath. It seemed as though everything that could possibly go wrong today was indeed going wrong.

"Damn- _ack- _it!" I snapped, and growled, shrieking in frustration when my usual sound of frustration was cut off by an explosive round of coughing. "For the love of God!" I snapped, landing in the tree in front of my window. The room was filled with light, and it was obvious my absence had been noted. The latch on the window had been snapped shut, leaving me alone outside, and cold, despite the fact that it looked to be early spring.

I sighed and looked down at the hospital's front doors. It appeared as though there was a flurry of activity going on. Perhaps if I just stepped inside I wouldn't be noticed and could escape to my room. Perfect.

By the time I realized that my eyes were watering; another cough had forced its way out of my throat. This one was different that the others; it burned my throat like fire, real fire. My sinuses burned too, and I scrambled to my feet when I realized that there appeared to be steam flowing out of my nose. I only had time for one really good barrage of expletives before one last set of coughs exploded from my jaws and I set the tree on fire.

"Holy crap," I said. Steam was pouring from my jaws in a scalding wave. "What the hell have I done now?" Frantically I tried to remember the stories about dragons Noah had showed me in the illustrated book at the little bookshop back in Munich.

_Dragons breathe fire; _Noah had read from the book, pointing out the dragon's rippling scales in the picture. _They have sharp claws and fangs, forked tongues, and clever, greedy tendencies. They are serpentine, and have wings that allow them to fly great distances. _

Slowly, I raised a hand to my mouth. My probing fingers encountered canine teeth that were sharp and curved way past their normal length. I flicked my tongue into my hand and felt the forked groove that ran through it.

The fire was sparking at my feet, and I stamped it out absentmindedly. It wouldn't do for my paper gown to burn off. "Huh," I said, silently thanking whoever was watching over me that the tickle had stopped. To tell the truth, I could still feel something… new, at the back of my throat. It felt like a tiny version of the flame from before. I constricted my throat around it and it grew, heat rushing up and out of my mouth in a roaring column. I threw my head back and watched as fire turned the night sky a brilliant scarlet. The heat scorched my face, but my throat and sinuses felt nothing. Evidently I was immune.

I released the fire at the back of my throat and instantly the real fire died to a few wisps of smoke curling from in between my closed jaws. I flopped down on the branch, closing my green eyes and rubbing a hand through my hair. The golden brown curls felt soft and comforting under my touch, and I arranged them so that they mostly covered my face, just the way I liked them.

"I am a dragon," I said aloud. Speaking out loud helped me think. "Or half of one, at least. I certainly have the wings, fire and teeth." I raised a hand and took in my fingernails, which still looked like those of a normal human's. "Negative on the claws," I said. "And the serpentine body. And I think I already had the greedy tendencies, so nothing's changed there."

I shifted on the branch, laughing quietly to myself. "This," I said, "is ridiculous. I haven't been here long enough to find out that I'm an alchemist, and one that could do something the others all failed: human transmutation. Couldn't I have learned all of that tomorrow?" I sighed. "I should never have done what I did. Not that I'm not happy about it." It was true. The night air around me excited me in a way Munich's never could. I felt alive and filled with an energy that excited and fascinated me. Noah had been right; I belonged here.

I looked down at the open hospital doors. "Here I come," I said, and fluttered off the branch. I landed at the base of the tree and paused, looking at the wings folded neatly on my back. I was somewhat conspicuous in my present state. If I'd been able to do this to myself, I could probably reverse the change.

I closed my eyes and felt the energy thrumming through my veins. It wasn't an insane amount, but more than I'd ever experienced. Perhaps my present state was what was causing it. If I could just turn it off… Slowly, I curled my hands into fists and took deep breaths, willing myself to relax. _Quiet, _I told my veins in my head. _Go back to normal. Come on, Leoma. You can do this._

It didn't take much effort. Slowly but surely, I could feel the maniac energy inside me ebbing, and my physical changes melting away. It was an odd, indescribable feeling, but I could control my alchemical transformation. And even as I worked to get myself back to normal, I noticed something: the energy wasn't all it could be. It felt as though there was something bigger that it could grow into, another phase of transformation. _Is that even possible? _I thought grimly. _Could there really be anything else I can shift into? Not that the whole half-dragon thing isn't bizarre enough._

I opened my eyes. The wings at my back were gone, as was the strange tickle in my throat. One swipe of my tongue across my teeth and I knew that I was back to normal. I sighed in relief and headed towards the hospital doors, walking as quickly as I could. The pain in my abdomen had flared up, and I wanted to get back to Sheska's loving care, and more importantly, the loving care of a bunch of pain killers.

Slowly, I leaned against the glass doors and pushed myself inside, poking my head in cautiously. I needn't have bothered. All the occupants of the hospital waiting room were crowded around two figures that were standing next to a gurney, waving their hands and conversing with a doctor. One of them had a blonde braid down his back. It was the braid that made me realize who it was.

"Ed!" I yelled. He turned around, looking annoyed. Evidently the return of the Hero of the People got him a lot of unwanted attention. This was strangely out of character for Edward Elric. Usually he just loved attention. Obviously something was wrong.

Ed's expression changed so drastically that I would have laughed if the situation hadn't been so bizarre. His mouth gaped open and he looked as though all the air had been snatched from his lungs. "Leoma?" He asked.

I darted past throngs of curious people. "Ed!" I said again. The relief I felt upon seeing a familiar face was colossal; I'd been missing Ed, Noah and Al a lot more than I'd realized.

I made it up to Ed at last. Al was beside him, busy talking animatedly with a doctor. He hadn't even looked up; something was definitely wrong. And then I looked down at the figure lying in the gurney, and my heart stopped.

Noah was much too pale against the white sheets. Her usual bronze coloring had drained until she was almost the color of the cloth she was wrapped in. I felt the urge to vomit, and looked up at Ed, my whole body trembling. "Noah," I said. "Oh God, Ed, what happened?"

Ed turned to me, his golden eyes flat and dangerous; the eyes of a jungle cat. The bags under his eyes were dark, and he looked as though he'd been through a war. I wondered briefly if he'd seen Truth, but only briefly, because in the next second his fist was connecting with the bottom of my jaw.

I reeled backwards, biting my tongue in pain. He'd hit me with his automail arm, of course. He usually reserved that arm for people he was really, really mad at. Like Von Hohenheim, his estranged father. Or little idiots who disappear and get their friends seriously injured, like me. I felt my eyes welling up with the first tears I'd truly cried since I'd gotten to Amestris; not because of the pain, which I completely deserved, but for the knowledge that I was indeed as big a bitch as Wrath had told me I was.

"I," I whispered, "am a complete and utter asshole."

"No kidding," Ed said; his tone hard. "You really screwed up big this time, Leoma." He grabbed my arm and dragged me into an embrace. "I was worried about you, you jerk," he growled into my ear, golden hair tickling my forehead. "You better as hell be sorry."

"Oh, I am," I murmured. "More than you'd expect." And I spat blood onto his shoulder.

He held me at arm's length and inspected the blood on his shoulder. "What the hell is this?" He snapped, looking more concerned than angry. "And… _Oh, God, Truth took your arm…_"

I wiped away the blood trailing down my chin with the back of my wrist. "I'm fine," I said. "I did a lot of… strenuous activity today. I probably just opened up a few of the closed ends. I'm not going to die from this. What happened to Noah?"

"Your kidney," Ed said, ignoring my inquiry. "The doctor told me about your admittance here. What happened? How'd you get here with no arm and kidney? And what the hell were you doing out of bed?"

"Later," I said. "_What happened to Noah?_"

Ed's expression softened. "Truth," he said. "It took Noah's tongue."

My lip trembled and a single tear slid down my cheek. Noah's mouth was closed now, but I was sure that when she opened it again I'd be able to see the tongue's absence. Noah was moving slightly; sweat trickling down her face in beads. Occasionally a doctor would check her pulse, but no one seemed to be doing much.

"They sewed the stump shut with alchemy," Al said, from behind me. "There's nothing else they can do for her except wait to see if she wakes up. She lost a lot of blood." He opened his arms wordlessly, and I stepped into them. There would be no punching from Al. "You had us very scared, Leoma," Al said, stern. "Don't you dare even think about pulling something like this ever again."

"I won't," I whispered. After all, I'd gotten what I'd wanted. My greed was satisfied, at least for now. Once again I felt an uncomfortable twang of discomfort from my abdomen. I didn't appear to be spitting any blood for now, but that could come at any time. Al released me, and I looked into his face. Like Ed, he had shadows under his eyes, and he looked exhausted. "This… all this… is my fault."

Al looked like he was about to say something, but I felt my wrist being gripped from behind. I turned around and saw that Noah was clutching me with an iron grip. Her eyes were wild and searching, but as soon as they met my own, they relaxed. Her hand released me and fell back to her side. I saw her mouth my name, and then she drifted into a slumber.

When my vision started to blur and the pain in my abdomen and arm grew fierce, I was almost glad. I felt myself sway and heard someone shouting something, but it was as though they were a thousand miles away. Something smacked into my side, or perhaps it was me who smacked into the floor, and then I was gone and could forget about my guilt, at least for a little while.


	5. Forgiven

When I woke up, I found that I was tied to the bed.

Sunlight was streaking in from my cheerful hospital window, which I noticed was now locked tight. There was another rack of fluids extending to my arm, which was now tied with thick-looking cloth to the bed above my head. I growled at it for a minute and tried to pull it free, which of course did nothing. I looked down, taking in my new hospital gown and the fact that my legs were also tied with cloth. "This," I snarled, "is ridiculous."

Grinding my teeth, I looked around at my prison. There was one crucial difference from the last time I'd been here; Noah was sleeping in a bed close to the door. Ed was sitting in a chair by her side, fast asleep. Al was doing the same in a chair near me.

_Well, _they'd _be helpful if a homunculus showed up right now, _I thought_. _And then, _I am so glad they're here. _

I closed my eyes and felt the quiet energy in my veins. _Hah, _I thought. _Let's see how well you can hold me with _this! I prepared to start the alchemical transformation when…

"Leoma?" Sheska's voice came from the doorway._ Damn, _I thought, turning to look at her with a horrific scowl on my face.

"Are these," I raised my bound wrist as far as it would go before it was snapped back down, "really necessary?"

To my surprise, Sheska had a stubborn look on her face that was almost as bad as my scowl. "Yes," she said, moving towards me with the clipboard. "I don't know what compelled you to sneak outside the hospital last night, but the doctors and I ensured that it won't be happening again." I groaned and fell back against my pillow.

"This is really uncomfortable," I grouched.

"It shouldn't be," Sheska said brightly. She'd made it to my bedside and was now waving what looked like cardboard-colored mush in a bowl in my face. "The doctors and I spent at least an hour selecting the right cloth and moving your arm to the perfect angle; one that should keep you in bed but not hurt you if you choose to resist. So I have a feeling you're just a little bit grouchy. Care for some breakfast?"

"Is that what that is?" I asked tentatively.

"Mm-hm," Sheska said. "We don't think it would be a good idea for you to eat solid food; it might put some stress on the cavity where your kidney used to be. So I volunteered to make you some mush. It's just like the solid food you normally eat, but smashed into an almost liquid consistency!"

"Wow," I said, staring at the bowl above my head nervously. "That sounds… wonderful."

"Oh, I'm so excited!" Sheska gushed, apparently haven forgiven me for my earlier betrayal. "Usually no one ever wants to eat what I make!" I forced a broad smile and opened my mouth. I had realized some time in our conversation that I actually liked Sheska, and I honestly didn't want to hurt her feelings. Besides, I completely owed her after sneaking off in the middle of the night. I hoped that she hadn't gotten in trouble for it.

Sheska whipped out a spoon from a pocket in her uniform and busily began feeding me the mush. To my relief, it tasted just like cardboard, a flavor that wasn't too bad in the spectrum of awful tastes. Once Ed had made Noah a cake for her birthday. Now that… that had been disgusting. This bland mush was nothing in comparison.

Sheska finished feeding me and wiped my face off with a napkin. I hadn't been babied since my mother had died, and I honestly couldn't remember her babying me at all; I just hoped that she had. She'd been my mother, after all, and since I'd never known her I always tried to think the best of her. I only had one clear memory of her, and that was the remembrance of her death. It had been a rainy night; that much I knew, and we'd been in an alley. I remembered the way she'd held me and then how she'd let me go, shoving me away. I hadn't understood why she'd had a knife clutched in her hand until she plunged it deep into her own heart and fell back, a contented smile written across her features. There are some things you never forget, and the look of bliss on my dead mother's face as her own blood pooled around her was one of them. I still remembered her face the most; that disconcerting smile always disturbed me. Her suicide had seemed so pointless, and the fact that she was so happy about it had always made me wonder if perhaps she'd regretted having me. I never knew my father; perhaps my mother had barely known him either and had made the wrong choices. Perhaps she thought that she could mend them by taking her life. I always did try to think well of her, but on my bad days I hated her. _How could you be such a coward? _I used to ask myself in the orphanage I'd lived in after she died, at least until I'd run away. _My life is terrible, but I would never do what you did. How could you run away and leave me all alone?_

My thoughts had taken a dark turn, and I was sure that my expression was horrible, because Sheska was looking at me, clearly worried. "Leoma?"

I turned away, laying my head on the pillow and closing my eyes. "I'm fine," I said darkly.

"If you're worried about your friend Noah, she'll be alright," Sheska said softly. "She may not ever talk again, but she'll probably wake up soon." I smiled slightly at Sheska's attempt to cheer me up. She may have been completely wrong as to what was hurting me, but it helped.

"…Thank you," I said. "I'm glad to hear it." I opened my eyes and looked over at Noah's sleeping form. There was an expression of peace on her face that I'd never seen before. _I guess she really did want to go to Amestris, no matter what she told the rest of us, _I thought. _But we all lost so much…_

Sheska followed my gaze. "I can't believe it," she said wistfully. "You're friends with the Fullmetal Alchemist and his brother. Oh my God! Were those the friends you were telling me about yesterday?"

"They were, actually," I said. Sheska squealed, and then a bemused expression crossed her face.

"You come from the other world, don't you?"

I gaped. "How do you know about it?" I spluttered. Sheska laughed.

"I saw Ed coming out of the Gate that first time, you know. I didn't know what it was at first, so I pretty much followed the Flame Alchemist everywhere until he finally told me where Ed and his brother had gone. So I guess I always imagined them coming back some day. But I had no idea they'd bring their new friends with them!" She clapped her hands excitedly.

"So…" I said. "You think Ed's a really powerful alchemist, right?"

"Of course I do!" Said Sheska, aghast. "One of the most powerful!"

"Right," I said. "Well, if he's so great, don't you think he'd be able to stop one teenage girl from leaving her room?"

Sheska laughed and ruffled my hair. "Nice try, Leoma," she said, "but I'm not going to untie you." She headed towards the door.

"Wait!" I shouted desperately. "What about the bathroom?"

"Supervised potty breaks every four hours!" Sheska tossed back. My jaw dropped.

"_Supervised?_" I shrieked, straining against my bonds. "Are you joking?" Sheska laughed and slipped out the door, shutting it behind her.

I flopped back against the pillow, stewing. My arm stretched out over my head wasn't exactly uncomfortable, but felt like an idiot and had a bad feeling I looked like one too. I closed my eyes surreptitiously and waited until I could feel the energy inside me. _Human transmutation, _I thought. _Look what happened to Ed and Al when they tried it. I'm going to wait for their approval before I do it again. Otherwise I really might screw something up._

Someone yawned, and I opened my eyes. Al was sitting up in his chair, blinking and rubbing his eyes. He glanced at me and smiled when he realized that I was awake. "How do you like the cloth?" He asked. "Sheska and I deliberated about it for hours; she seemed to think it was too rough but I said that you hate super-soft sheets. Was I right?"

"You know you were right, Al," I said. "I do hate really soft sheets. They just seem so… slimy."

"That is, by far, the weirdest idiosyncrasy I've ever heard of," Al muttered. "Who doesn't like soft sheets?"

"Me," I said. "And it is _so _not the weirdest. Ed's obsession with being short… _That's _weird."

"WHO ARE YOU CALLING SHOTER THAN A- huh?" Ed opened his eyes and looked around sheepishly, rubbing the back of his head. "Sorry, guys," he said. "I just had this really weird dream… _Someone _was talking about idiosyncrasies and then I got called short!"

Al shrugged. "I can't think of a single person taller than you, brother," he said. "Other than, you know, pretty much everyone in the world."

"I AM NOT SHORT!" Edward roared.

"Who said you were? Nobody said you were short!" Al said. "You have to relax, big brother. You're scaring the patient." I scowled at him darkly when I realized that he was talking about me.

Ed turned to me with a smirk. "The picture of you tied to the bed is just wrong on so many levels."

I growled. "If it's so wrong… untie me."

"No," Ed and Al said, simultaneously. "It's fun that you can't get up," Ed said. "I can insult you and you won't be able to do a thing about it."

"We can't risk you running off again," Al said. "What were you thinking? _You just lost a kidney!_"

I squirmed uncomfortably underneath the gaze of two sets of golden eyes. "Actually…" I said. "I have a bit of a story to tell you."

Ed frowned at me suspiciously. "A story?" He asked. "Why do I get the feeling that I'm going to be really angry at you by the time this story is over?"

I swallowed. "You should be really angry," I said. "Everything that happened to us is my fault." Al put out a hand.

"Don't, Leoma," he said. "I know what you're doing. You're going to blame yourself for everything."

"He's right," Ed said, utterly serious for once. "You have a habit of doing that. I'll admit, portions of this are definitely going to be your fault. But not _everything._"

"But what about Noah?" I asked. _"She lost a tongue because of me!"_

"No," Al said. "She lost a tongue because she passed through the Gate. You didn't make her do that."

"Don't get a big head, Leoma," Ed said, back to his usual sarcastic nature. "Some things happen completely independently of you. I know that might be hard for you to understand…"

"Oh, shut up," I grumbled. "So, what you're saying is, Noah doesn't hate me for this?"

"Of course not!" Al said. "She was really worried about you, you know. She found the Gate in the apartment but didn't think it was a good idea to go in without us. She waited until we got home from work. By the time we made it, she was a mess. She'd kept on trying to work up the courage to go in alone, but she couldn't do it. She's actually afraid that you hate her now."

I shifted until I could see Noah lying prone in her bed. "She honestly thought I could hate her for being late?" I laughed with no humor. "She was smart," I continued. "I never should have gone in there alone."

"How'd you do it, anyway?" Ed grumbled. "We completely shut down that stupid Gate. It shouldn't have opened again! I mean, I'm glad enough that it did, but now anyone can go through. That's kind of the reason we closed it…"

"Oh, God," I said. "Kind of forgot about that…"

"Well?" Al asked. "Now you have to tell us what happened. The Gate shouldn't have opened, after all."

I took a deep breath. "After everybody left, I kind of asked it to open, and then it did." Ed and Al blinked at me.

"Hysterical, Leoma," Ed said. "Now: what really happened?"

"That _is_ what happened!" I moaned. "Why is that such a surprise?"

"You can't just do complicated alchemy by asking," Al explained. "You have to know what you're doing."

"Oh," I said. "Well." Ed and Al both narrowed their eyes.

"Leoma," Ed said. "Did you happen to do any alchemy, by any chance? Other than opening the Gate? Because, with that guilty look you're giving me, I'd say that you did…"

"It was an accident," I explained. "But I sort of performed human transmutation…" The alchemists' eyes widened. "On myself," I finished miserably.

"…please tell me you're joking," Ed said.

"I'm not," I said. "Want to see?"

"Yes," Al said. "But be careful. And, for the love of God, if you think that you're being pulled into the Portal, just stop whatever it is that you're doing."

"'Kay," I said, shutting my eyes. The energy was there, and I let it fill my body, humming quietly. Slowly, I increased the volume of the energy, letting it take over. There was a furious jolt of sharp stabbing pains, and then I felt my body contort and change in a fraction of a second.

I opened my eyes. My wings were pressed up against the hospital bed, straining for freedom. I stretched one of the claws out and casually slit the knot that held my wrist prisoner, stretching out the other wing to release my legs. "Whoops," I said, sitting up and massaging my shoulder. "Guess I accidentally let myself loose. Darn."

"Holy crap, Leoma," Ed said. "That is not normal." My face fell.

"I guess I'll just change back, then," I said, but Ed pounced, grabbing one of my wings.

"Just because it isn't normal doesn't mean I want to see it!" He said, moving the wing back and forth. "These bones- it's incredible!"

`"Well, that's great," I muttered. "Now, Al-hey!" Al was crouched on the bed in front of me. Before I could protest, he reached out and lifted up my upper lip.

"Look at your teeth!" He said. "Amazing!" And your tongue- is that forked?" I nodded; hoping the look I was giving him conveyed my displeasure well enough. Slowly, I let a little bit of the fire creep into my airways, and blew heated steam in Al's face; not enough to hurt him, but enough to get him off.

"Oww!" He yelped, scooting back quickly and staring at the steam pouring from my parted lips in amazement. "You can breathe fire?" I nodded. "Cool!" He grabbed my face and opened my mouth, staring down my throat.

"Al, did you check out these wings?"

"No, but you should really look at her throat, big brother. You might be able to see down it better than I can!"

"Is her tongue forked? Awesome!"

"Mmmlp," I said, but both of them ignored me, caught up in the study of my new, alchemically created body.

There was a tiny moaning sound, and we all froze. Noah was shifting slightly, moving one hand to brush the hair off her face. Al and Ed released me instantly, hurrying to her side. I slipped out of bed too, noting at the back of my mind that my abdomen didn't hurt at all any longer.

Noah stared up at Ed and Al with huge eyes. When I took my place beside them, they filled with tears. Her lips moved, so rapidly that I couldn't tell what she was trying to tell me, but I definitely saw her lips form the word 'sorry' more than once. "No," I said. "Don't be sorry. This is all my fault; you didn't do anything wrong."

Noah shook her head vehemently, one tear slipping down the side of her face. A tiny whispering sound came out of her throat, and she mouthed very slowly: 'do you forgive me?'

I laughed; a tear of my own traipsing down my cheek. "Oh, Noah," I said, leaning down and wrapping my arm around her. "There's nothing to forgive." Noah sighed, and I realized that her body had been trembling against mine. However, she slowly began to relax, and by the time I released her, she was perfectly still, staring up at me with a tiny smile on her face. Her eyes drifted to my side, and she gaped in shock at the sight of my missing arm. I could hear a rush of air entering her lungs, and her hand flew to her mouth. "No, no," I said, "Don't worry, Noah. This is just the price I paid for being an ass. It doesn't hurt or anything. Besides, you got it worse than me… and that really is my fault."

Noah frowned at me and shook her head again. She mimed writing, and I turned to Al. "She wants paper," I said, and he hurried off to get it, presumably. I looked back at Noah, who was now staring at my wings. "Alchemy," I explained in response to her puzzled stare. "Turns out I can change myself. Sort of like Envy… But I think this is all I can do, for now." I neglected to mention the feeling I had, the feeling that told me there was more that I could do with my newfound talent. No need to frighten anyone.

"You shouldn't be able to do this, though," Ed was musing. "You don't even clap your hands! Seeing as you only have one."

"Gee, thanks for pointing that one out, Ed," I muttered. "I hadn't noticed."

"Anyway," Ed continued, signature smirk on his face, "I don't know how you're doing this, but it might have something to do with Envy, like you said. Since he was used to open the Gate last time, maybe you were tainted by him somehow."

"I don't think that's it," I said. "After all, I already let him out, so I never passed through him…" I trailed off at Ed's expression. It looked as though he had swallowed a handful of particularly sour lemons. "Oh, right," I said. "I forgot to mention that…"

It was at this exact moment that Al showed up, a pen and pad of paper in his hand. "What's the matter, big brother?" He asked, looking at Ed's deadly expression. "You look like someone just told you the homunculi were back." Al started to laugh, and stopped when he realized that everyone was looking at him with expressions that went from guilty to terrified to furious. "Um," he said. "Are the homunculi, you know, actually back?"

The room erupted into chaos. Ed was shouting something unintelligible and pointing at me, I was waving my fist and yelling that, for the record, I was an invalid, and Noah was sitting up in bed, waving her arms and trying to yell, judging from the furious tempo of her lips.

It was a miracle any of us heard the sound underneath all the yelling, but when there were three soft taps on our door we all turned in unison, the fervor dying instantly. "Hello?" Sheska called. "Is everything all right in there?" The doorknob began to turn…

We moved as one. I sprang back to my bed, turning myself back to normal as I went. I'd had no idea I could make the change so fast, and in the milliseconds I had I have myself a mental pat on the back. I slammed onto my bed and slid my wrists and ankles into the previously slit knots. Ed and Al sprang back into their chairs, and Noah immediately lay back on the pillows and adopted a freshly-awakened, dreamy look.

Sheska appeared from the other side of the door. "Are you guys okay?" She asked. "I thought I heard shouts…"

"It was nothing," I said sweetly. "I wanted Ed and Al to cut me loose, but they wouldn't. I was understandably annoyed."

"Well, good for you two!" Sheska said. "She really shouldn't be moving around, not for another few days or so." Ed and Al looked slightly guilty at this, but I maintained my composure. My abdomen didn't really hurt, and that was good enough for me.

"Anyway," Sheska continued. "I have a visitor for you."

"A visitor?" Al asked, looking confused.

"Yeah," Ed continued. "Who would want to visit Leoma?" I shot him a glower, which he ignored.

"Actually…" Sheska said. "He's here to see you, Elric brothers." Ed and Al looked at each other, and Ed shrugged.

"Let him in, I guess," Ed said. "He's probably just another one of those Hero of the People Worshippers."

There was a quiet laugh from behind the door, and a dark figure pushed itself past Sheska.

"Trust me, Fullmetal," it said. "If I want a god, I'm sure I can find one a little closer to heaven then you are." Ed got to his feet, obviously about to shoot something cutting back, but the dark-haired man put out a hand, baring the white glove with a transmutation circle etched on the back.

"Relax, Fullmetal," the man said, and I realized that I knew who it was. After hearing Al describe the man in great detail, and hearing Ed complain about him in great detail, I knew him almost as well as if I had already met him. I was a little bit surprised I hadn't recognized him on sight.

"Welcome back," Colonel Mustang said, and I realized that the situation had just gotten even more complicated. And I was thrilled.


	6. Envy

Colonel Mustang's scathing gaze swept from one end of the room to the other. I realized that I didn't even know if he was a Colonel or not anymore, but I thought that Second Lieutenant Mustang sounded corny. In any event, he was still imposing, despite the fact that he could have quit the military long ago.

The Colonel's gaze stopped on me. "Leoma, I take it?" He said coolly. I nodded.

"I don't suppose I already have a reputation here?" I asked, half-hopefully. He shook his head.

"Sheska was telling me about you the whole way here," he said. "Apparently you lost a kidney and an arm passing through the Gate." His eyes narrowed. "We really have to talk about how you managed to open it."

I swallowed. Ed had neglected to mention how imposing Mustang could be when he wanted to. Of course, I wasn't entirely innocent of this effect myself; I had used it to protect myself back in my orphanage days. If I had been able to do it as a toddler, surely I wasn't going to let some big-headed flame alchemist freeze me with a glare?

So I smiled sweetly at him. "We do," I said. "Apparently you aren't a very good alchemist, because opening it was easy. A toddler could have done it." Mustang's facial features froze for a minute, as though deciding whether they wanted to be amused or angry. Finally, he chose a smirk as his best course of action and turned to Ed.

"She's a delight, Fullmetal. You two make a great couple."

Ed rolled his eyes. "That is disgusting, Mustang," he said offhandedly. "She's like, three years younger than me." I smirked. Ed and I had never been interested in each other. No one on our little group had ever been interested in each other. We were as close as brothers and sisters, but our bonds ended there.

Mustang snorted. "As if it's a crime to date someone younger than you," he said. "I myself have…" He trailed off, looking strangely and suddenly nervous. Ed looked up.

"What? You went out and married her while we were away? Took you long enough."

"You got married to the Lieutenant?" Al asked. "You two were barely speaking last time I saw you!" Mustang cleared his throat.

"Times change," he snapped. "And yes, I did marry Riza. There's no need to get so excited about it."

"Well, I think it's exciting," I offered. "Even though I don't know either of you." Mustang rolled his eyes in my general direction.

"Just what I needed," he growled. "A female Fullmetal, and the real one, on the same day. I don't think this could get any worse."

"Don't listen to them, and they'll stop," Al pointed out, wisely. "Don't worry; big brother's only pretending to be unhappy that you're here. He's really glad. And so is Leoma, even though you don't know her. She knows you, and she knows that we're going to need your help."

Mustang gave me a look. "With what?" He asked, suspicious.

"Well," I said. "As it turns out, we might be having a teensy problem with homunculi now, because I accidentally sort of brought a few of them back to life." Mustang blinked at me, and I got the feeling that he was contemplating burning me to a crisp with a snap of his fingers.

"This is a joke," he said, in a tone of voice that suggested that he didn't really get the whole 'point of humor' thing.

"Nope," I said, watching the fingers for any imminent signs of snapping. "If it helps, I lost an arm and a kidney for it."

Mustang's posture was rigid. "That does help, actually," he said. "If you weren't so injured right now, you would be on fire. What the hell did you do?"

"I asked Truth for a favor," I said slowly. "I wanted to come here, and he let me. For a price."

"Equivalent exchange," Mustang muttered. "You lost an arm and a kidney and gained the homunculi? And the Gate just opened because you asked it to?"

"Yes and yes," I whispered. "And don't even warn me that I have to feel bad, because I do. I wanted Amestris to be my home, but people are probably going to die now, and it's my fault." I could hear Noah scribbling something on her newly acquired paper, and then I crumpled ball of paper hit me in the face.

"Oww!" I said, sitting up and reaching for the note to unfold it. Sheska gasped upon the realization that I was moving.

"You lied!" She yelped accusingly, pointing at Ed. "You _did _untie her!"

"We didn't, actually," Ed said. "She did it all by herself."

"What you heard was us fighting about the homunculi," I added, wincing at the hurt expression on Sheska's face. For some reason, lying to Sheska made me feel guilty in a way nothing else could. I sighed. "I'm sorry, Sheska," I said. "I'm sorry for lying to you, and for being a bad patient, and for putting your life and the lives of everyone you love in danger. I haven't been good to you at all." Sheska smiled, and her eyes filled with tears.

"Oh, it's okay, Leoma," she said, hurrying to my side and sitting next to me on the bed. "I know you've been through a lot, what with coming through the Gate and all. You must have wanted to be here with all your heart."

"All my soul, too," I said. I looked down at my hand, which was still clutched around Noah's note. I unfolded it, and grinned at what it said. 'INTRODUCE ME TO EVERYONE, LEOMA. OR GET ED AND AL TO DO IT.'

"Mustang; Sheska," I said. "That's Noah." I pointed to where she smiled, reclining against the pillows. "She, Ed, Al and I were friends in the other world; she lost her tongue when she came through; otherwise she'd say hello. That reminds me… I looked at Ed and Al suspiciously. "You didn't lose anything to Truth, did you?"

Ed smirked. "Nope," he said. "Evidently going back to your own home doesn't affect you. We're fine." I growled.

"That is so annoying," I said. "And completely unfair."

Al shrugged. "Is it?" He asked. "We were only going home, after all. You opened the Gate."

"Fair enough," I retorted, leaning back against the pillows. "So," I continued. "Envy, Gluttony and Wrath are back, and it's my fault. I guess I'm going to have to get rid of them, at least Envy and Gluttony. I don't think Wrath is going to try to hurt anyone." I turned to Mustang. "Why did you come here?" I asked, softly.

He sighed. "I heard that the Hero of the People and his younger brother were back. I wanted to see if it was true." He looked at Ed and Al, his black eyes penetrating. "There are a lot of people waiting for you, you know," he said. "Winry Rockbell, Pinako Rockbell, all of my subordinates. We've missed you both." I bit my lip. Mustang had just revealed a lot, and it would be just like Ed to say something sarcastic and ruin the moment.

To my surprise, Ed nodded. "We've missed you too," he said softly.

For a full minute, the room was completely silent. Displays of affection were practically painful for Ed, and apparently he and Mustang were a lot alike in that regard. The silence was broken by a cough from Noah. She held another note in her hand, and handed it to Al to read for her.

"We need to find the homunculi," he read. "They can't have gone far; they're probably around here somewhere."

"Good point, Noah," I said. "I know where Wrath is, or was. He and I had a discussion outside the hospital the other night."

"Oh!" Sheska said. "That's where you went!"

"Yes," I said. "To be honest, I didn't really want to go, but I had to. I owed it to him; it's my fault he's back. He never wanted to leave wherever it was that he went when he died."

"Do you think he'd like to be put out if his misery?" Mustang asked.

"No," I said slowly. "I think he wants to stay this time. After all, he might not make it back to the place that he was happy this time around. I'm going to let him do what he wants; he deserves it."

"It's Envy we need to worry about," Al said, without hesitation. "Gluttony is dangerous but not very bright. He's probably still in the Underground City. We didn't see him when we made it through the Gate and brought Noah up here to the hospital, but I'm sure he's around. Envy, on the other hand…"

"Is an angry, dangerous, sadistic teen who's out for blood," I finished. "I really am an idiot." Ed rubbed his stomach, probably remembering the time Envy had impaled him.

"Yeah," he agreed. "But Envy's not a good fighter; it's his shape-shifting ability that's so disturbing. He changes into people you care about and destroys you while pretending to be someone you love. If you're prepared for that, it's only his dragon shape you need to watch out for. And even then, he's not unbeatable. This problem may not be as bad as we think."

A sudden tap on the door caused all of us to jump. "Come in," Sheska called, getting to her feet. The door swung open to reveal a small blonde girl in a nurse's uniform, also holding a clipboard. "Oh, hello, Carlyn," Sheska said. "Is something wrong?"

The tiny girl shook her head mutely. "I just wanted to check up on all of you," she said, large blue eyes flitting across the room. Her voice was high and clear, and her face was exquisitely beautiful. She seemed strangely smug, and her gaze lingered on Noah before turning to me, where it lingered for even longer. I considered bringing my hand up in a sarcastic wave, but resisted the impulse.

"Well, if that's all, Carlyn…" Sheska said, clearly dismissing the girl. Carlyn's face split into a wide smile.

"Actually," she said, "It's not. I wanted to see if you were all here. The Hero of the People and his brother, and the Flame Alchemist. My mistress thought that perhaps you would trouble her, and sent me here to finish you off." She smiled, beatifically. "She said to be careful. But after I heard you talking, I didn't want to wait." The girl's body seemed to be contorting, and her voice was changing, growing deeper and slyer. "You insulted me," Carlyn said, blonde tresses growing almost green in the light. Her blue eyes were growing darker, and I realized that they weren't human at all.

"Envy!" I shrieked, jumping to my feet. He turned to me, still half-Carlyn, albeit a Carlyn with green hair and eyes.

"Oh," he pouted. "You're no fun. Usually it takes humans a bit longer to recognize me." He smiled; a contortion of sharp teeth. "I guess I'm going to have to kill you for it."

In the span of a millisecond, everyone was on their feet. Ed clapped his hand and his automail arm twisted into a blade of steel. The Flame Alchemist was coldly regarding Envy, fingers poised to snap. But Envy had eyes only for me. He lunged forward, finally slipping back into the guise of a green-haired teen. Before he could reach me, however, my wings snapped into place and I slashed at him with one claw. I managed to open a long cut on his cheek, and he growled.

"Who says I'm not a good fighter?" He asked, and came at me again, a whirlwind of limbs. I managed to raise an arm to defend my head, but he kicked my stomach and I yowled. Bile rose in my throat, and I let the fire within me burst from my jaws.

"No… fair," Envy said, torso melting away into ash. But he was already growing back, and I didn't think I was a match for him.

"Leoma!" Ed yelled. "Get away from him! We can take care of this!" Mustang, Ed and Al were moving forward.

"Damn it!" The Flame Alchemist growled. "I can't use my flame in these close quarters. But I guess it's not necessary with you around." He gave me a hard look, and I remembered that I'd forgotten to mention that I was an alchemist.

"Bitch," Envy snapped, and lunged at me again. I twisted my wings in front of my face to protect me from his assault, but they were paper-thin and hardly helpful. Envy stabbed through one with the ease of punching through paper. I screamed and opened my mouth, despite the fact that my wings were in front of me and would get burned along with the homunculus.

The flame streamed from my mouth, but stopped when it hit my wings. I felt a tickling sensation, but nothing worse, and I realized that my wings were fireproof. Fire flowed through the hole in my wing and Envy wailed as his face was scorched.

"You bully!" Sheska yelled, throwing a clipboard at him. It smacked him in the side of the face and he reeled towards me, backing me up towards the wall. Noah was on her feet too, looking furious. Sheska was supporting her, and the two women looked about ready to fly at Envy and tear him to shreds. "What did you do with Carlyn?" Sheska yelled.

"I killed her," Envy said nonchalantly. "Don't be too upset; I barely had to threaten her before she told me where to find you. The human world is better off without such a coward."

"Carlyn was a good person!" Sheska sobbed, tossing a syringe at the homunculus that he dodged. "How dare you!"

Envy shrugged. "Just another dead human," he said. "You'll be seeing her soon, anyway, so quit complaining."

"Bastard!" Ed yelled, throwing himself at the homunculus. Envy growled and dodged the attacks, parrying with swift blows that probably hurt Ed more than he let on. My heart sank; someone had been teaching Envy how to really fight, because he was much better than Ed had told me. Perhaps this 'someone' could be the mistress Envy had referred to?

Envy shot backwards and elbowed me in the solar plexus. Gasping, I fell against his back, and he went rigid, surprised long enough for Ed to stab him through the shoulder. He hissed and yanked the blade up, twisting it into a useless jumble of metal. "You haven't been fighting for a while, Fullmetal," Envy whispered, his eyes gleaming with a feral light. "Whereas I've gotten much, much stronger. Being asleep for so long just saved up my energy, and my mistress taught me a few tricks."

"Oh, shut up," Al said, transmuting a stone hand from the floor to smack Envy in the face. The homunculus staggered backwards, into my waiting arms. When I had him firmly pinned, the claws on my wings went to work, slashing viciously at his face. He wailed and dropped away from me, rolling halfway towards the other, blood streaking from vicious gashes marring his handsome face.

_Handsome? _I thought, laughing nervously to myself. _Where did that come from? He's a homunculus, completely evil and definitely not handsome._

"Mustang!" I yelled, and breathed fire on Envy's head, which melted away. "Hand-to-hand combat isn't going to work with him! My fire is really small compared to yours. I need you to burn him for me!"

"Not when you're behind him!" Mustang snapped. "You'll burn!"

"My wings are fireproof!" I yelled, and shrieked as Envy grabbed my ankle. I fell on top of him, and struggled to get to my feet while trying to ignore the fact that Envy was pulling me down on my very breakable hospital gown. "Quit doing that!" I snapped. "You'll rip it!"

"Fine," Envy growled, and grabbed my neck, pulling me towards the floor. His grip tightened, and I realized that breathing was about to become intensely difficult. He could easily choke me to death. I had to get on my feet, and fast.

"Eat this," I whispered, and cracked my head forward. It slammed into Envy's, and his grip slackened enough for me to pull free. I staggered back, the world spinning, and suddenly remembered what I'd told Mustang. I had been right, we were utterly failing at fighting with the homunculus. I reached down and grabbed him by the shoulders, dragging him up and clasping him against my chest while wrapping my wings around my body and ducking behind them to protect me from the fire to come. "Do it now!" I screamed, as Envy was still pressed against me, frozen. Obviously no one had ever hugged him before, even if it was a hug that would hopefully lead to his destruction.

I could hear the sound of fingers snapping, and turned my head away to avoid the heat. At the last second, my eye noticed the window behind me, and I froze. The resulting explosion wasn't going to slam me against a wall where I could hold Envy while he burned. It was going to send me crashing out of a four-story window that I was happy enough to never fall out of again.

"Wait!" I shrieked, and the smell of scorched flesh filled my nostrils. Envy flew backwards, and I felt my back crashing through the glass window. I yelped in pain and released the homunculus, twisting in midair and unfurling my wings from around my body. I spread them out and soared, landing neatly on my feet in a crouch. I heard a thump and a moan, and knew that Envy had landed beside me.

He was up in an instant, his front scorched and looking annoyed. "Cute," he said.  
>"Nice strategy, by the way. I have to commend you on that."<p>

"Shut up and fight me, dragon boy," I said, with more bravado then I felt.

Envy looked at me skeptically. "Your gown is on fire, by the way," he said. I looked down and frowned.

"No it isn't," I said, and looked up to find that Envy had transformed into a dragon and was slithering towards me. "Cheater!" I yelled, stumbling back. Ed and the others shouted encouragement from the window. I could see that they were working on making a set of stairs down to the ground with alchemy, but if I didn't do anything soon I was going to end up a bit of gunk between Envy's teeth.

The energy in my veins was shrieking at me, and Envy hissed at me and lunged forward. I dodged, and in that instant, floating through the air, I finished the transformation I had started a night ago.

I landed on the ground and hissed at the dragon before me. He was looking at me with the most dumbfounded expression a dragon could possibly have. I looked down at myself and realized why. In place of my normal body, I had a thin muscled form covered in dark purple scales. A set of massive wings protruded from my back, and I had a thick tail curving around my long back legs. I only had one front leg, which I supposed stemmed from my lack of an arm. In short, I was a dragon, not a serpentine one like Envy, but a dragon of more European origin. _The kind that kidnaps maidens and likes gold, _I thought. _Ha._

Envy's momentary stupefied state was all I needed. I threw myself forward and my jaws snapped at his throat. He was thin compared to my muscled body, and at that moment there was no doubt in my mind that I was the more dangerous of the two of us.

Envy screamed and writhed, his neck caught in my iron grip. His coils worked their way around my dragon torso and he started to squeeze. I ignored the pain and continued holding him by the neck, shaking him now and again if he wailed too loudly.

Envy looked up at me and stopped wailing, his violet eyes gleaming. "Let me go little human," he said. "Or you will regret it."

I shook my head fiercely, making his body wriggle. He sighed. "Have it your way," he said, and suddenly it wasn't a dragon in my arms but a bloody teenager. I had his head in my teeth, and he pulled away, popping it off. He fell to the ground with blood pooling from his neck stump, but got to his feet even then and pointed a warning finger at me.

_Crap, _I thought. His features were reappearing and he did not look happy. The others had managed to make a relatively safe-looking bridge and were now sliding down carefully. I had about five minutes to stay alive before they got there.

"I hate humans," Envy said. "They are just so annoying. Your death could have been easy, but _noooo. _You had to go and fight me on it. Well, don't come crying to me as I tear you limb from limb."

"I won't," I said, "Because that makes no sense."

"And you have the audacity to not even feel threatened," Envy continued. "It's just ridiculous." A cruel smile flitted across his features. "There's something about you, human," he said. "I would like to make you feel fear."

I shivered. _Something about me. That doesn't sound good._

Envy rubbed his hands together, a classically evil gesture, and then he stretched out one hand and it elongated into a tentacle, whistling through the air towards my head. I growled and abruptly shrank into my half-dragon form. If he was using tentacles my bulky dragon self wouldn't be able to do much good.

I slashed at the tentacle with my claws and yelped as another wrapped itself around my waist. It started to squeeze, and I gasped as the pain from my abdomen grew fierce. I was horrified to find that I was burnt out; all my energy was used up. I could see the Flame Alchemist pounding towards me, but I was sure he was going to be too late…

"STOP!" A voice yelled. Everyone froze. Slowly, I turned my head around to look behind me. We were standing in the square outside the hospital. There was a little fountain in the center of the square, and standing next to it was a boy. He had short dark hair and icy blue eyes that were fixed on Envy. "Let the girl go!" He roared.

"Nope," Envy said, and yanked me to him. I cursed, but his tentacle-arms held me firmly against his chest.

"You have been warned," the boy said, looking almost as if he regretted what he was about to do. He plunged his hands into the fountain and clapped his hands. There was a crackle that made my hair stand on end, and then the smell of ozone. Something boomed, and I felt my limbs lock instantly. I slumped over in Envy's arms, and realized that the homunculus was similarly stunned. I looked up through fluttering eyelids to see Ed, Al and Mustang collapsed only feet from me. They seemed to be awake, but mysteriously frozen. What sick kind of alchemy was this?

Envy was laughing. I had a bad feeling about this, but my eyes had closed and now wouldn't open. Slowly I felt the tentacles shifting, and realized that whatever the strange alchemy was, it hadn't hurt him very much. "Very good, boy," Envy continued. "Lightning alchemy is difficult, especially using it to only stun those around you. But you're going to have to do better than that if you want to best a homunculus."

"Bastard," the boy said. I could almost see Envy's smug stare.

"I'm going now," he said. "Do you know this girl?"

"No," the boy said. "But I think it's my duty to help out anyone in distress, especially females."

"How… chivalrous of you," Envy muttered. "Anyway," he continued. "I'm taking her with me, so don't try to kill me with your alchemy. You probably couldn't do it but I'm getting weak, and I don't feel like wasting more of my energy. Try anything and I'll kill her."

_No! _I thought. _He's going to kill me anyway! Don't let him take me, mystery boy!_

"Harm her and I swear, wherever you are I'll find you and tear your throat out," the boy said coldly. Then I heard the sound of him walking away and Envy's breathy laugh in my ear.

And then we were moving like lightning, and my bad feeling only got worse as Envy whispered to me, "Cute boy. But if he honestly thought he could stop me, he was an idiot. As are you."

I was royally screwed.


	7. Allies

Being paralyzed pretty much sucked.

I was trapped in the dark world behind my closed eyelids, and to make matters worse, my senses seemed to have abandoned me completely. I was still conscious, but that was all I was. I felt that maybe this was what unconsciousness was like, but with the thinking part as an added bonus.

Of course, I immediately began to think about my current situation. Envy was probably dragging off my prone body to dump it in a river and laugh, and lightening boy couldn't do a thing about it. _Who was he, anyway? _I thought. _Ed and Al never described anyone like him. I think he was my age… And he was a pretty talented alchemist too. If I ever manage to wake up I'm going to have to find out more about him. I wonder why he used water in his alchemy. I guess it wouldn't work without it. Man, what I would do for some water right now… _My thoughts continued in such a manner, fluid and mostly unworried, despite the fact that my future was probably going to end up bad. I was honestly too tired to worry anymore.

"… Should have done this years ago," a voice said. _Envy? _I thought. _I guess my senses are back. But I still can't move. Typical._

"Hey," Envy said. "Lima or whatever it is that the Flame Alchemist called you. Are you awake?"

_Yes, _I thought.

"I guess not," Envy sighed. "Probably a good thing. I have a feeling you aren't going to be a very good hostage when you wake up, and you're so peaceful now."

_Peaceful? _I raged. _That stupid asshole. I'm paralyzed; otherwise I'd rip his throat out!_

"You're lucky to be alive, you know," Envy said. "I should probably just kill you and move on, but you make great protection against the lightening alchemist kid. He's a lot more dangerous than I told him. He has the power to blast me into a million pieces and blast those pieces into nothingness. It would take me forever to reform, and he could probably short out the power of my red stones if he could figure it out." The homunculus sighed again. "I'm just being careful. It's an idiot idea, I guess, but after everything I've been through I think being careful could have its merits." There was a pause, and then Envy most likely hit something, because there was a crashing sound.

"Damn it!" He yelled. "I've gone soft. There's no human in Amestris who can hurt me! There's no need for me to be lugging around this stupid girl." He froze and released me, and I fell to the ground with a painful crack.

"Goodbye, Lima," he said. "I'll even get rid of you as a dragon, to clear up the evidence in case the kid comes looking. I can keep my nature and still be careful after all, I suppose."

I heard a scraping sound, and panic overtook me. There was no way I was going to die paralyzed and with my eyes closed! Slowly, with more effort than it had taken me to fight Envy before, I opened my eyes.

Sunlight glittered off the green scales, and I blinked at the magnificent creature above me blearily. His sinuous body was marvelous, all muscle and sinew and elegance. I ached to touch the cool scales, despite the fact that my hand would probably get ripped off if I tried it. Obviously I was delirious, because the image above me was making my head spin. Just opening my eyes had taken up a lot of my energy, and now I could feel my paralyzed stupor digging its claws into me. Still, I couldn't help it. I had loved the dragons in the bookstore back home, but this one far surpassed all of them. There was something about the way he moved, a graceful slither that could morph into a terrifying thrash in an instant. He reached down, sparkling, and his violet eyes winked at me in the light. The dragon opened his jaws wide to reveal a row of glittering teeth, and the words rolled off my tongue. "You're beautiful."

My eyes snapped shut and my will became my own once again. _Idiot! _I thought. _Why the hell did you just say that? Crap, crap, crap… And you didn't even mean it._

I did, though. I found the dragon stunning. Envy himself was another story, but his dragon form was amazing. I couldn't help but think it, and I was a little biased, seeing as I myself was sometimes a dragon too.

There was silence from the dragon. I waited for him to tear me limb from limb for my impudence, but I didn't feel any pain. The silence stretched for an eternity, and then Envy spoke. "… human?" He asked, almost tentative.

_I'd love to answer you, _I thought, _but I'm basically unconscious._

"Are you unconscious?" Envy asked.

_I refuse to answer that question. Also, my tongue betrayed me again, so I can't._

There was silence again, and then Envy spoke. "Now what do I do?" He groaned. He sounded conflicted, and my heart soared. I had a chance of survival. It wasn't a huge chance, but at the moment it would have to do. "I guess I'd better wait for her to wake up," he growled. "God, I hate humans."

"You'll be awake in a quarter of an hour or less, by the way," Envy said. "That kid hit us with a lot of power. So don't worry, it's not like you're in a coma or anything." He made a strangled noise and hit something. "Why am I even talking to her?" He asked. "She can't hear me! I'm an idiot."

There was silence for a time. I waited with bated breath while trying to gain some control over my movement. It wasn't much, but I found that if I worked for it, I could briefly twitch my fingertips. If nothing else, it was a start.

"Heh," Envy said. "That hospital gown is ridiculous, and by now it's all ripped."

_I don't like where you're going with this, _I thought nervously. A wind blew right through the paper, and despite myself I shivered a bit. _Right in front of Envy, too, _I thought unhappily.

"Oh," Envy said. "She's cold. How typical. Humans really are pathetic."

_Well, _I thought, _maybe I'd be less pathetic if I wasn't wearing the "ridiculous" hospital gown. Jerk._

I winced internally as something dropped onto me from above. I wasn't sure what it was but it was soft against the patches of bare skin that were exposed, and I had to admit I felt warmer already. "And there you go," Envy said. "Now you won't freeze until you wake up. I want to know _exactly _what you meant earlier. Oh, crap, I'm talking to her again." He shut up.

There was a sudden flash of pain through my entire body, and I moaned. As soon as it subsided I knew I could move again. I fluttered my eyelids and sat up, looking down at the black leather jacket covering my torso. Envy was leaning up against a wall, and I realized that we were in an alley. _How many alleys are there in Amestris? _I thought to myself, grumbling internally.

"Um," I said, looking up at the homunculus. For once his expression was inscrutable, even though he was in human form. "Thanks for the jacket?"

"Give it back," he said, and I tossed it at him crankily. He put it on and it immediately melted away into his skin; obviously it had just been a product of his ability to shape-shift.

"So..." I tried again. "It was nice of you not to kill me, but I really have to go…" I moved to get to my feet, but Envy was in front of me in an instant.

"Creepy much?" I snapped at him.

"All the time," he replied. "You think I'm beautiful?"

"I was… delirious," I muttered. "Not that you're an eyesore as a dragon, I suppose."

"Huh," Envy said. "You're the first person to ever say that to me."

"There are reasons for that," I grumbled.

"Such as?" Envy asked.

"Well, people are probably afraid that you'll kill them by saying it," I replied. "Also, I'm probably the only in the history of the world that would find a dragon attractive. Not that I think you're attractive," I added hurriedly. "It's just… you know what, forget it."

"Alright," Envy said, a bemused expression flitting across his face. "Are all humans so weird?"

"No," I growled. "I'm a special case." I got to my feet and looked down at my hospital gown. There was a jagged slash near my collarbone and one of the sleeves was gone, the one that my arm had been in, typically. The hem of the gown, which had originally come up to my knees, was now considerably shorter, making it about mid-thigh length. "Damn it," I muttered. "I hate hospital gowns."

I started to move past Envy, grumbling about my gown and paper in general, but he sidestepped, standing in front of me. "Envy," I said. "Is there _anything else _you wanted to chat about? Otherwise, it would be really nice if I could go change." The slash near my collarbone chose that exact moment to begin to droop, exposing a lot more flesh than I would have liked. I shrieked and pushed it back up.

"I do have more to talk about, actually," Envy said. His body began to morph, and the black leather jacket appeared again. He shrugged it off and tossed it at me. "Keep it," he said. "You look like an idiot in the gown anyway, and if you run off because you're embarrassed about what you're wearing we'll probably never finish this conversation."

"Thanks," I said without much conviction, slipping the jacket on over my gown and zipping it up. It had a fur-lined interior and was a lot warmer than the stupid gown.

Envy shrugged. "Your friends want to kill me, right?" He asked.

I shrugged back at him. "Probably," I said. "The fact that you just attacked them didn't really endear you to them." Envy frowned.

"I was only following orders," he said. A chill ran down my spine.

"Orders," I said. "What is it about you homunculi that you can't go five minutes without following somebody's orders?"

"She was waiting for me in the Underground City," Envy said. "And I couldn't refuse her."

"Why not?"

"I'm not telling you, human," he said. "Unless…" He paused, and looked at me expectantly.

"Unless what?" I snapped. "Don't be vague."

Envy cocked his head at me. "Do you want to be allies?"

I blinked. _This _was what Envy had wanted to talk to me about. "Is this because I told you that you were beautiful?" I asked, suspicious. "Because before that I'm pretty sure you were trying to kill me."

"I was," he said, "and I still can. And no, this isn't because you think I'm beautiful. That has nothing to do with it." I waited, but he didn't say anything else.

"Why, then?" I prompted. Envy looked uncomfortable.

"Never you mind," he said, and I knew he was lying. _That egocentric jerk just wants to have someone around him who thinks he's pretty! _I thought, incredulous. _But I need as many allies as I can get. Maybe… I can use this to my advantage._

"Alright," I said, and Envy smirked.

"Great," he said, and grabbed my hand.

"What are you doing?" I asked.

"Making sure you keep your promise," he said, and slit open the back of my hand with a briefly sharp nail.

"Oww!" I yelped, trying to pull away, but Envy held me fast. He reached into the pocket of the strange skirt-like garment he wore and pulled out a Red Stone, or at least what I was pretty sure was a Red Stone. Ed and Al had described them to me, but I'd never seen one before and couldn't be certain.

Envy looked me in the eyes. "Do you promise to be my ally, and in doing so, never attempt to kill me? Say yes," he prompted.

"Yes…" I said slowly. Envy dipped the Red Stone into my blood, and I winced as electricity crackled through my body.

"I agree to the same conditions," Envy said, and popped the Stone into his mouth. His violet eyes filled with a strange light, and he sighed. "Human blood," he said. "Delicious."

The tingling through my body subsided, and I yanked my hand out of Envy's grasp. "What did you do to me?" I asked.

"I just made sure you'd keep your promise," Envy said. "When a human and a homunculus swear over a Red Stone, the human dips the Stone in their blood which the homunculus subsequently eats. After that, they can't go back on their promise."

"What the hell is that?" I asked.

"Alchemy," Envy replied. "My mistress told me about it; she made it as an added security measure to keep her homunculi with her. She didn't use it on _me, _though, I wouldn't let the bitch come close."

"You're so sweet," I muttered. "What would happen if I tried to kill you, right now?"

"Go ahead," Envy said. "Use one of your claws."

"Suit yourself," I said, spreading my wings. One of them sliced through the leather, and Envy made a face.

"You're lucky I can't kill you," he said. "Leather's expensive."

"Not when you can magically make it appear on your body," I retorted. "Now, hold still so I can gut you." I waved one claw in the air and brought it down towards his neck. At the last possible second, it froze, as if someone was holding it. "Damn," I said. "Dante knew her stuff."

"Yup," Envy said. "It was really too bad that she died, but my new mistress is better."

"Are you going to tell me who she is?"

"Sure," said Envy. "But you have to promise me this: you won't tell anyone else about her. Or about what we're doing now. That's a part of being allies, anyway; we only look out for each other. All other sides are obsolete."

"Oh, hooray," I said. "So you think the Red Stone you just ate will keep me from revealing your secrets?"

"Probably," Envy said. "And if it doesn't, I can always rip your tongue out."

"And you wonder why no one else thinks you're beautiful," I retorted. "Asshole."

"You know it," Envy said. "Anyway… her name is Inferna."

"Inferna?" I asked. "That's original."

"Not really," Envy said. "It's not her real name. She picked it after…" He froze, and cocked his head to the side. After a moment of listening, he straightened and shook the dark green hair out of his face.

"I have to go," he said. "That alchemist boy is coming up the alley." He sprang on top of the row of trash cans, and then another leap carried him onto the roof of a nearby building. "Bye, Lima," he said.

"That's not my name!" I hissed, and he laughed.

"Whatever," he said, and was gone.

"Stupid…" Now I could hear the sound of running feet too.

"Leoma!" A voice called, and I realized that the strange alchemist was only a few meters away from me.

"Here!" I called, leaning against a trash can and doing my best to ignore the smell. Whatever the boy had done to my system had left me bone-tired.

He came charging up the alley, looking right and left with fists raised, as though he expected Envy to pounce from behind a trash can. When he saw me, he didn't even slow, slamming into me bodily. "Oww," I snarled. "What are you _doing_?"

He held me close to him and I realized that he had a pin in his hand. He stabbed it into my shoulder, and I shrieked and yanked it out, wincing at the bead of blood that ran down to the stump of my arm and then dripped onto the cement.

"What the hell was that for?" I growled.

"I was making sure that you weren't Envy," the boy said gravely. " Obviously you're not, because you didn't heal. He's used that trick before; pretending to be someone you love and then using their form to kill you."

"Hang on," I said. "Someone you _love?"_

He blushed. "Sorry," he said. "I didn't mean… I mean, I did, but I… well…" I put a finger to his lips, which made him turn even redder, but it effectively shut him up.

"I know what you meant," I said.

"Great," he said from behind my finger, his face slowly returning to normal. "I'm glad. Because otherwise this whole situation might have been awkward." He laughed, slightly nervously, and I narrowed my eyes, removing my hand.

"Name," I snapped.

He blinked. "What?"

"What's your name?" I asked, exasperated. "You're shrouded in mystery, and I'd like to learn more about you."

"Oh," he said, and smiled at me winningly. "I'm Jay. Jay Archer." He extended a hand for me to shake.

I reached out for his hand, and the full implications of what he'd just said hit me. "_Archer?" _I yelped, pulling my hand away. He sighed and pulled his back too, rubbing his tousled black hair.

"Yes," he said. "Archer. The son of the crazy megalomaniac, in case you were wondering. And I think it's pretty rude that you just judged me based on my last name," he added, giving me a frown.

I swallowed. "You're right," I said. "That _was _rude of me. And, if it helps, you don't seem anything like what I've heard of your father." Jay sighed, and his tense posture relaxed.

"Sorry about that," he said. "It's just that everybody thinks poorly of me after they hear my name, and it's upsetting because my dad wasn't evil." I blinked. "Well," he amended, "he wasn't evil before the homunculi got to him."

"What do you mean?" I asked slowly. I didn't want to offend the teen, but Archer had clearly been evil long before the homunculi had turned him into a half-metal monster.

"The homunculi teased him with dreams of power," Jay said seriously. "He wasn't an incredible dad before that, I'll admit; he dumped my mother and me in the East and visited every few months, but he wasn't evil. Then the homunculi began to change him, and he stopped coming." Jay paused and curled one hand into a fist. "I can't honestly say that I loved him with all my heart," he said, "but he was my father, and like it or not, now I hate the homunculi for destroying him."

"Oh," I said. "So you want to avenge your father?"

"Something like that," Jay said. "It's more like this, though: now I can see the homunculi for what they really are, and I'm never going to stop until they're all dead." His icy eyes glowed with a weird light. I recognized the light; mine had once glowed like that, every time I'd spoken of visiting Amestris. The boy was suffering from an unhealthy obsession, but I wasn't going to play the hypocrite. He had to get rid of it for himself, just like I had.

"Okay," I said, anxious to change the subject. "Your alchemy: what _is _that?"

"Lightening alchemy," Jay said, his smile showing a hint of pride. "It's almost like Colonel Mustang's Flame Alchemy: but instead of using the dust in the air as a makeshift fuse, I wet my hands and use the water to wet the dust. Then I use the transmutation circles on the back of my palms to start the lightening, which travels over the surface of the water in the direction I sent the wet dust. It really is like Flame Alchemy, but I can control the amount of force I use. When I stunned all of you, I was trying to stop the homunculus, but he turned out to be immune. I would have just went for the kill, but lightening alchemy isn't exact. I could've killed someone. Next time I'll get him, though."

"So Mustang's a Colonel again?"

"Yeah. He got back his old rank after Amestris was attacked by an army of metal soldiers. I should tell you about that sometime."

"You mean, like, a date?" I asked.

Jay turned bright red again. "No," he stammered, blushing furiously. "That's not what I meant at all."

"Sorry," I said, "but ever since that little 'harm her and I swear, wherever you are I'll find you and rip your throat out' bit, I've been a little curious. It's almost like we've known each other for years and you needed to protect me, but I've never met you before."

Jay turned redder. "It's just that… I don't know, there's something about you. I'm already prone to helping out females in distress, but I _really _wanted to help you."

_Crap, _I thought. _Something about me? Again? What is it?_

"That's… sweet," I said. "Where's everybody else?"

"We all spread out to look for you," Jay said. "I'm sure we'll find them eventually." He beckoned to me. "Let's go," he said. "We have a lot to talk about. They'll all want to know how you escaped from Envy, and to be honest, so do I." He paused, and his eyes raked over my figure. I blushed and crossed my arms as his gaze lingered at my chest, but I realized that he was looking at what I was wearing, not at what I hoped was my attractive figure. "Where'd you get the jacket?" He asked.

"Oh," I said. "I found it." He smiled, easily pleased, and grabbed me gently by the arm, pulling me forward and back to my real allies, the ones that would always look out for me, unlike certain homunculi.

Probably.


	8. Home

"I'm not going back in there," I said, "and you can't make me."

The whole gang was standing outside the doors to the hospital. The place was a bit of a wreck, considering the fact that my room now had a broken window and a set of stone stairs coming down from the sill, courtesy of Ed. Broken glass littered the ground around us, and there were scorch marks everywhere, thanks to the Colonel. I'd found out from Jay that he'd requested his old post back after getting bored of being a Brigadier General, and was secretly relieved, because I personally thought that Brigadier General Mustang sounded idiotic.

"You have to go back," Ed snapped. "You lost a kidney."

"I'm aware of that," I retorted. "But I'm not going back."

"Why not?" Al said; voice calm. He was used to my sometimes ridiculous moods and always knew how to say the right thing.

"I feel fine," I replied. "I don't hurt anymore and I'm not spitting blood. I think that counts as a full recovery."

"You shouldn't strain yourself," Jay said seriously. "Probably, going back to your room is the best thing."

"And what, have them sue me for damage? I don't think so."

"She's right," Sheska announced, to the surprise of all. She blushed under the five furious gazes and one grateful one directed her way. "What? It's the truth! Leoma has healed remarkably well, under the circumstances. After today's activities she should be vomiting blood, but she isn't. I think her alchemy is speeding her healing processes."

"Hooray," I said. "Plus, I need to wear something else. I'm going to go crazy if I have to spend another minute in a hospital gown."

"At least you found the cool jacket," Jay said, and I nodded. I'd told the others that I'd woken up in the alley with the jacket lying crumpled by a trash can, and no one had questioned me further. The story even made a small amount of sense, sort of. For now, I was in the clear.

I felt Noah slide next to me, and she put her hand on my shoulder. Her arm was light and delicate as the hollow bones of a sparrow. I turned to look at my friend, and was shocked to see that she was pale and had dark circles under her eyes. There was a tiny bit of blood in the corners of her mouth, and she was swaying slightly. She looked exhausted, and would certainly benefit from more time in a bed.

"_You _need to go back," I said, and she paused for a bit before giving me a tiny nod. I looked around myself and realized something obvious. "I don't have anywhere to go," I said.

"What about Resembool?" Al asked. "Winry's gonna be ecstatic to see us… after she gets over the wrench-throwing stage." I swallowed nervously. I'd heard quite a few tales of the formidable Winry, mostly from Al. Ed seemed reluctant to talk about her, and from this I guessed that Winry had been very close to Ed before the Gate tore them apart. I looked over at him and was surprised to see him fidgeting uncomfortably.

"Actually," he said slowly, quailing under my gaze, "We don't need to go to Winry. Winry's coming to us. I called her and told her about Leoma, and she wants to try automail."

"What?" I gasped. "I'm not wasting a year of my life getting used to automail! No way!"

"Too bad," Ed said. "Tell that to Winry. But I'm telling you now, she's not gonna listen." He sighed. "Anyway, if we went to Resembol now Winry would kill us. I just called her early this morning; she should be here tomorrow in the late afternoon."

"Alright," I said, unconsciously rubbing the stump of my arm. "I guess I can sleep in the hospital room, but…" I turned to look helplessly at Sheska. "Soon they'll want to know what happened to me, right? And I can't tell them. If everyone knew about the Gate it could be catastrophic."

Sheska nodded, but then shook her head. "You're right. But I'm sorry, Leoma!" She realized. "I live with my mother, and she would never allow someone to stay with us. She's very sensitive." I nodded. If there was anything I didn't want, it was a cranky old lady yelling at me.

"It's the same with me," Jay said. "My apartment has a 'no visitors' policy."

Everyone unconsciously turned to look at Mustang. He stared back at us with his one dark eye and eye patch for a minute before sighing. "Fine," he said. "Leoma, you may stay with me and my wife."

Ed paled. "You know what? I think Noah will need some company. I should probably stay with her."

"And I should stay with my brother," Al added, rolling his eyes slightly. "Or he'll manage to destroy the room again, somehow."

Jay looked up suddenly. "I've got to go, too," he said. "I need to feed my cat." We all stared. "What? Do you guys want Bean to starve?" He started to jog away, turned, and looked me in the eye. "I'll see you soon," he said. "Don't worry, I'll find the Colonel's number somewhere!" He smiled, turned, and darted off.

Noah opened her mouth in a silent yawn, and Sheska took her elbow, leading her gently in the direction of the hospital. Ed and Al followed suit. Al turned to me and smiled. "We'll call, too," he said. "Probably we'll have you meet up with Winry tomorrow. Call the hospital if you need us!" He ran to catch up with Noah, Sheska and Ed, leaving me alone with Mustang. There was silence for a minute. "So…" I said.

"Follow me, Miss… I don't know your last name."

I shrugged. "I don't have one. Anyway, you seemed perfectly comfortable to call me Leoma before."

Mustang snorted. "I only want it now because it's much more fun to address you as 'Miss' than it is by 'Leoma.' I've noticed that it tends to get on you young people's nerves. And just because you're embarrassed about your last name doesn't mean you should say that you don't have one."

I rolled my eyes. "I'm not embarrassed by my last name, I just don't know it. My mother committed suicide when I was one and I never had a father around, so nobody bothered to tell me."

"Oh," Mustang said. He had the good grace to look embarrassed. "I'm sorry, Leoma."

"It's alright," I said. "I barely remember her, anyway." Another silence ensued, but this one was less awkward than the first, more like a silence between friends. I was surprised to find that Mustang wasn't quite as evil as Ed had always made him out to be.

Mustang turned and headed away from the hospital, and I fell into step behind him, reverting back to my wingless form so as not to terrify people. We walked in silence for a while, and I looked around myself, trying to drink Amestris in. It was early spring, and there was a slight chill in the air that ate right through my gown. Everyone we passed stared at my odd getup, and in the end I was forced to ignore them all, as screaming that the gown had never been my idea wasn't going to make me any friends.

We were passing by a shop filled with evening dresses and large hats that I was dying to try on when Mustang spoke. "Your alchemy," he said. "Where do you think that came from?"

"I have no idea," I answered truthfully. "I doubt it has anything to do with Envy, somehow, because he seemed just as surprised as me that I could even use alchemy. Maybe something happened to me in the Gate that changed me."

Mustang nodded slowly. "How did you come to know the Elric brothers?" He asked. "And who's Noah?"

"Al found me in a doorstep about a year ago, and brought me back to Noah and Ed," I replied. "I was pretty sick; I'd contracted pneumonia and I could hardly breathe. Noah nursed me back to health. She's a gypsy woman that Ed met and befriended about a year or so after he came to Munich." I neglected to mention the part of the story where Noah betrayed Ed. She was massively guilty over her part in the fight against the Thule Society, and I didn't want Mustang to hate her without understanding that.

There was another, longer silence, and then Mustang turned to me, his dark eye gazing at me wryly. "So how do you like Amestris?"

I looked around myself, taking in the sights of the shops filled with automail parts, the few military personnel roaming the streets in their blue uniforms, and the teenage alchemist on the corner trying to turn a stick into something and accidentally setting it on fire. I breathed in the scent of fresh air, clear of the smell of industry and pollution, and smiled. "I love it here. It's so much better than Earth ever was."

Mustang stopped walking, and I realized that we were in front of a small apartment building. "We're here," Mustang announced. He turned to me seriously. "Whatever you do," he said, "do _not _insult Riza's cooking. I'll smuggle in food for you later." He grinned briefly, and I smiled back. Then he reached in a pocket of his blue uniform and produced a set of keys. Fitting them into the door, he turned the knob and let us into a vestibule. A set of curving stairs extended into the upper regions of the building, and Mustang immediately started up the stairs. I followed, marveling at how clean they'd managed to keep the vestibule.

After the third and final landing, Mustang stopped in front of one of the doors in the hallway and knocked. "Roy?" A female voice called.

The door opened to reveal a slim blonde woman with huge brown eyes. A black-and-white dog cajoled at her feet, barking excitedly. It started to lunge at me, but she grabbed it by the collar. "No, Hayate," she admonished it firmly, and it sat down with a whimper. She looked back up with a smile. "Hello," she said. ""I hate to sound rude, but who are you, exactly?"

"I'm Leoma," I said.

"A friend of Ed and Al," Mustang finished, and the woman who was obviously Riza smiled excitedly.

"So it's true?" She asked. "They're really back?" Mustang nodded, and she put a hand over her heart. "After all these years…" She murmured, and then straightened up, crisp. "I'd better see them as soon as possible," she said. "It's been a long time." She looked at me. "Did you come from the world they went to?" I nodded. "Let me guess. You need a place to stay." I nodded again. Riza smiled and extended her hand. "I'm Riza Mustang," she said. "And you can stay as long as you like! A friend of Ed and Al is my friend too, as far as I'm concerned." I smiled and shook her hand.

"Don't just stand there," she admonished Mustang and I gently. "Come in!" She opened the door wider, revealing a plain, clean apartment. It wasn't large, but I could see that there was enough room for me and all my stuff, mainly because the only thing I had with me was Envy's jacket.

Hayate whined at my feet, and I smiled. "Is Hayate a he? Or she?"

"He," Riza said. "You can pet him if you like."

"Hi, there, cutie- Aaaah!" Hayate went straight for my face, barking and licking me like a maniac.

"Hayate!" Riza said, and the dog released me.

"Cute," I murmured, and she laughed.

"Don't worry," she said. "Once he gets used to you he won't find you _that _fascinating." She looked down at my outfit and frowned. "What are you wearing?"

"A hospital gown," I replied. "I lost my arm and a kidney going through the Gate…" Riza's eyes widened in shock and I realized that she honestly hadn't noticed my missing arm.

"You've been through a lot," she said softly, and I nodded. "Do you want to talk about it?" I found myself shaking my head.

"I'm sorry," I said. "I'm not really a talker."

Riza gave me a melancholy smile and gently took my arm. "You might feel a bit more comfortable here if you had some clothes," she said. "I've got a lot of older things that don't fit me anymore but might fit you. Do you want to go look?"

"Yes, please," I said. "That's very generous of you." Riza laughed.

"Hardly," she said. "They're only clothes from my teenage days, after all. You can have them all; I can't think of a single item that fits me anymore."

Riza led me into the little apartment. She pulled me through a small kitchen and living room and into a small room with a closet. The room was piled high with clothing; it spilled out of the little closet in the side of the room and almost completely covered the futon next to the wall. Riza sighed embarrassedly. "Please excuse the mess," she said. "I've been reorganizing the clothes in here; I didn't really think we'd actually use the room for a guest!" She smiled. "But most of these are old things I can't wear anymore. Take your pick; I'll help you cram it all into that closet so that you can have a full wardrobe!"

Riza and I spent the next ten minutes folding clothes and setting them in neat little piles in the closet. I was amazed; the clothing was quite different in Amestris than Munich; clothes here seemed designed to make you feel beautiful instead of boring. The shoes fascinated me especially; boots, flats and heels were all things that took a while to get used to, but they were much more attractive than the practically military shoes from Munich.

We were both sweating by the time we were done, but I had located quite a few things that I was dying to try on and Riza was happy to oblige. She retired from the room, saying that it was nearly dinnertime and she was going to start dinner, and I immediately stripped off my gown and jacket and went for the closet. We'd organized the clothing inside into tops, bottoms, underwear, shoes and accessories, and truth be told, I was having the time of my life. The orphanage had given us gray sack-like dresses to wear, and when I had been with Ed, Al and Noah we hadn't been able to afford anything fancy. Now Riza had given me a whole wardrobe of wonderful things to choose from, and I was in heaven.

Riza had no shortage of underwear, and though the bras she'd given me were a little tight, they were better than nothing, which is what I'd had under my gown before. I found a pair of black pants that clung to my legs, accentuating my curves, and a white tube top. Happy with my choices, I slipped on a pair of white heels and stepped out of the room. I breathed in deeply and exhaled just as quickly. There was an awful smell wafting through the air, and I had a bad feeling Mustang's warning about Riza's cooking had been more than accurate.

I stepped into the kitchen and blinked at the sight of Riza showing Mustang a half-melted, half-burnt lump that was probably some sort of pie, although I couldn't be certain. Mustang was nodding woodenly, with a smile that looked as though it had been painted on. Riza caught sight of me staring at the pie and twisted around so that I could get a good sniff.

"I decided to make dessert instead," she said. "I figured that's what you'd want, being a teenager. I used to love pie too. Roy is going to pick up some dinner for us." I sighed with relief internally. If Mustang's word and the pie were to be believed, Riza's cooking was the worst thing that had ever happened to Amestris.

Mustang backed hastily out of the kitchen, and I heard the door slam. Riza put the pie on the counter and pulled up two chairs, one for her and me. Trying to ignore the smoking… _thing _to my left, I looked into Riza's chocolate eyes and saw that she was smiling. "Tell me," she said. "What was it like, meeting Ed and Al in another world? What was the other world like?"

I spent the next half hour explaining how things worked on Earth to Riza. She was a good listener, and only interrupted me when something truly shocked her. She was fascinated by my stories of the adventures I'd had with Ed, Al and Noah before coming here, and was even more fascinated with my story of the Guardian of the Gate. I was just wrapping up the loose ends of my tale when Mustang reappeared with a bag filled with various meats on a stick and bread, which I found amazing. We didn't have anything like meat on a stick in Munich, and although we did have bread, the Amestrian bread tasted almost fresher, though that was probably due to my bias.

By the time we were finished with dinner, the sun was almost set. Through one of the small windows over the sink, I could see that the sky above Amestris was purple-pink and hazy. "Was the sunset like that back in Earth?" Riza asked softly, from behind me.

I nodded. "I guess that sunsets always look the same, no matter what world you view them from," I said. Riza was smiling at me, but she looked sad.

"Do you miss Earth?" She asked.

I paused, staring up at the clouds above me. They shifted slowly, purple giants weaving slowly through the rapidly darkening sky.

"I don't know," I answered truthfully. "Earth was my home for seventeen years. But I've been here for a few days and I already feel more like I belong than I ever did on Earth. Is that strange?"

Riza shook her head. "Some of us are born in the place we belong," she said, "but others have to work to find it. I'm glad that you feel like you belong here, Leoma. It seems as though you were disenchanted with your world, and I'm happy that you got the chance to become part of this one." She stepped beside me and put her dish in the sink along with my own. "Now," she said, "Would you like some pie?"

I managed to escape from what no doubt would have been an awful fate by saying that I was much too full to eat another bite, and retired to my room for the night, changing into a baggy sleep shirt for the night. The futon on which I rested wasn't the most comfortable bed in the world, but it was better than the hospital bed. I shuddered at the thought of the doctors and the questions they'd ask had I been there. I'd really dodged a bullet by going with Mustang.

It wasn't completely dark yet; my room had a window which I stared out of. I watched the strained light fade away and the stars wink into existence. A corner of the crescent moon appeared in the corner of my window, and I smiled at the sight of it. Slowly, still staring out the window, my eyelids got heavier and heavier until they shut and blocked out the light completely, and I drifted into a deep sleep, all my worries and troubles slipping away, at least until the morning.


	9. Crystal

"_Leoma!" Jay Archer screamed. I was in a desert, hot wind searing across my bare arms. Jay was behind me, screaming warnings to me, but the howling wind tore them away before they reached my ears. He came forward, walking in a halting gait. When he reached my side, he rolled up his sleeve to reveal a shining automail arm. "Automail!" He said, his face changing suddenly into Ed's. "You won't get far without it!" I looked down to see my own automail limb attached to my shoulder, gleaming in the sun. All at once it shimmered and turned into a thousand beetles, clicking and clambering up my shoulder. "Oops," Ed said. "Guess it was a mirage." The beetles began to climb up my neck…_

_ "Leoma…" Riza Mustang sighed. We were in an alley in Central now, and she lay on the ground a few feet from me, curled up and obviously in pain. I took a step towards her when my body froze, useless. Jay appeared beside the woman and stomped on her prone wrist. She cried out in pain and tried to drag herself towards me, but Jay laughed and dragged her to her feet, clutching her by the neck. "You will address me as Fuhrer!" He screamed, shaking her limp form furiously. "My name is not Jay! I am Fuhrer, damn it! Fuhrer!" I tried to move towards them, but lightning hit me in the small of my back and burnt me into oblivion…_

_ "Leoma," Envy said. I was tied to a chair in the center of a dark room, the homunculus standing in front of me. He smirked at my futile efforts to free myself and pulled the chair forward until my face was inches from his own. "Did you really think that I wanted to be your ally?" He laughed. "What fools you humans are." He stabbed me in the abdomen with his hand, and blood spurted from my lips. "Human blood," he whispered. "Delicious." His tongue flicked out and trailed along my lips, smearing blood across my cheek. I gasped, and he pressed his cold lips against my own as I slumped in my bonds…_

I woke up with a gasp. My heart was galloping in my chest and I felt nauseous. The sheets on the futon had been twisted into sweaty knots, and my hair was slicked back to my head, completely straight, for once. Slowly, I took deep breaths until my heart resumed a normal tempo.

I fell back against my pillow, feeling exhausted despite the fact that I'd been asleep. I closed my eyes slowly and let the waves of exhaustion roll over me, knowing already that I wouldn't be sleeping again for quite some time, although it was still dark outside. _That dream… I haven't had such a vivid one since I was a kid. _

Slowly, unwillingly, my thoughts turned in the direction of what I'd seen. Jay, Ed, Riza and Envy had all featured in my dreams tonight, and although normally I didn't believe in analyzing dreams, it was something to do while I was lying awake.

Jay had appeared first in my dream, but it had turned out that he'd been Ed in disguise. Ed had told me to get automail, but that wasn't too sinister, as Ed obviously wanted me to get automail in real life and probably wouldn't take no for an answer. Then Riza had shown up, weak and defenseless. Perhaps that meant that I already cared about her and worried that she would be hurt. Jay rampaging about and screaming that he was the Fuhrer was obviously because my subconscious was afraid that he was just like his father.

The part of the dream that scared me was the part with Envy. The first bit was easy to interpret: I was afraid he'd try and double cross me. It was the part in which Envy kissed me that brought out my nerves. _Could it be… do I have feelings for him? _I shuddered immediately. _Ew. No. He is a creepy, nasty little monster with his own psychotic agenda. Feelings for him? Please. I just think his dragon form is cute. That's all._

My thoughts immediately strayed to the homunculi. Envy may not have been a threat to _me, _but I doubted that he'd leave the rest of the human populace alone because one human happened to be his ally. Wrath was another story. I had no clue where Wrath could have gone, and I wasn't sure if I wanted to know what he was doing. He was probably going to lay low, possibly for a hundred years or more, and I owed it to him not to seek him out. The next question was of Gluttony's whereabouts. I had assumed that the monster would soon be roaming the streets of Amestris, killing everything in his path, but the homunculus was nowhere to be seen. Envy probably knew where he was; I was going to have to ask him about that. _That is, if I ever see him again, _I thought. _I don't know where to look for him, and now he doesn't know where to find me. Typical; next time I _do _see him I'm going to demand a better mode of communication. What point is there of having an ally if I can't actually talk to him?_

I sighed and twisted in my bed until I could look at the stars. They twinkled at me, infinitely more beautiful than the ones on Earth. The moon hung lazily in the sky, looking as though it were suspended by a thread from the heavens. _I think I'm in love, _I thought lazily, eyes drifting shut, _With Amestris…_

A shrill ring interrupted me from my dreamless slumber. I sat up, rubbing my eyes blearily, and the ringing increased in fervor. I got to my feet and stumbled out of my room, the golden light of early morning painting patterns on the wood floor. Riza had pointed the phone out to me when showing me around the house, and I padded towards it in bare feet. I reached the kitchen just as Mustang staggered out of his bedroom, yawning and rubbing his eyes. He was wearing a grey tank and underwear, and a look of pure horror flitted across my face before he turned around and spotted me. "Get the phone, Leoma," he yawned, already heading back towards his room. I was bright red, but Mustang didn't seem to be too worried. I realized that tons of women had probably already seen him in his underwear, and he didn't really care if I was added to the long list. This thought gave me the courage to reach for the receiver and pick up the phone.

"Hello?" I asked.

"Leoma!" Ed's voice crackled through the phone.

"Hey," I said. "Um… You're up already?"

"Yes! It's already seven o' clock!"

"Early," I clarified.

"It's not my fault you're not coherent until ten," Ed replied, and as I really wasn't coherent at the moment, there was nothing I could say back. "Anyway," he continued, "Winry called. She wants to meet you in the park at five in the afternoon."

"Hang on," I said. "What park?"

"You know!" Ed said impatiently. "The one by Central Command!"

"I don't know, actually," I replied. "I've been here for three days."

Ed sighed loudly, a rush of static. "Mustang will know." He immediately hung up on me, a habit I found both irritating and amusing, on my better days.

I sighed and put the phone back on its cradle. Immediately it began to ring again, a brazen alarm-like tone that I thought Riza probably picked out herself, it was so military. I snatched the phone back up. "Ed!" I snapped. "Next time don't hang up on me, and you won't have to call again!"

"Actually…" A voice said. "It's Jay."

I blushed bright red as if Jay were standing next to me, glad that he wasn't. "Jay? What is it?"

"I want to meet up with you," Jay said, immediately. "If that's okay."

"Yeah," I said. "It's fine. Anything you wanted to talk about in particular, or…?"

"Not really," Jay said. "It's just that I think we might be able to help each other out with the homunculi problem. I'm ready to hunt them, and I wanted to get started." He sounded so eager that I was tempted to blurt out that Envy and I were currently allies, but I stilled my tongue.

"Alright," I said. "Do you want to meet up at four in the park by Central Command? I'm going to be meeting a friend of Ed and Al's there at five anyway."

"Sure," Jay said. "I'll see you then, Leoma!" The phone clicked, and I realized that Jay, too, had hung up on me.

"Men," I growled, putting the phone down and heading back to bed.

Despite my best efforts, sleep eluded me, and eventually I was forced to conclude that it was time to officially awaken. I burrowed through the clothing Riza had provided me, trying to find the right thing to wear. If Winry was going to be taking measurements I didn't want to be in something bulky

I finally settled on a skin-tight yellow shirt and vest, and ruffled grey skirt with black heels. I added an olive-green scarf to the mix, not really because I thought I needed it, but because I liked the way it made me look elegant. I caught sight of Envy's leather jacket, crumpled in a heap on the floor, and bent over to pick it up, putting it on a hanger in the closet. _There, _I thought. _Now it won't get wrinkly. _I didn't honestly know why I cared, but it was a nice jacket and I wasn't above wearing it again.

I slipped out into the hall and nearly fainted at the smell of deliciously sizzling fried eggs. I bolted into the kitchen and saw Mustang at the stove, flipping an egg deftly with a spatula and wearing his military uniform, thank God. The egg hissed with grease when it hit the pan, and my eyes glazed over. "Sit," the Colonel commanded, and I threw myself in a chair. "Honestly, you look like a starving dog," he commented, scooping up two of the eggs and placing them on a plate. He out the plate down in front of me and shoved a fork into my non-resisting hand. "Eat," he commanded, sitting across from me. "Don't just stare at it."

I stabbed my fork into one of the eggs and wolfed the breakfast down, snuffling under my breath. Mustang stared. I finished the plate in about two seconds flat and had to restrain myself from licking it.

The Colonel frowned at me. "How is it that you don't choke?"

I shrugged. "Practice. You make a mean fried egg. And, in truth, I was expecting Riza to be making breakfast… Where is she, anyway?"

"Getting up, I presume," the Colonel said, and I hear a yawn from the other room, followed by the sounds of padding feet. Riza appeared in the kitchen, wearing a baggy grey shirt and dark pants. Her hair was down, tangled in messy swirls; and I looked sadly at my own hair, considering the style briefly but knowing with my curls I'd never be able to pull it off.

"Good morning, everyone," Riza said, slipping into the sole remaining chair at the table. She grabbed a plate and loaded it with eggs, smiling at Mustang gratefully. "Looks good, Roy." He shrugged modestly, and Riza turned her attention to me. "Now, Leoma. What are you going to be doing today?"

"Not much," I said. "I'm going to visit some friends at the park by Central Command at four o' clock. Not that I know where that is…?" I looked at Mustang hopefully.

"If you're going out, just look for Central Command. You know; the big white building?" He snorted sarcastically. "The park is right next to it."

"Thanks… Colonel."

He smirked, his onyx eye gleaming. "You're quite welcome." He got up suddenly with a sigh. "Well, I'm off," he said. "I've got a lot of paperwork to finish up. It's pretty hard, not having you as an assistant anymore."

"But isn't it better to have me as a wife?" Riza asked, standing up and giving him a nuzzle. Mustang answered by way of kiss, and I refrained from clearing my throat loudly and sneaking away from the table.

Once Mustang was safely out of the house, Riza turned and smiled at me. "I was actually going to clear up a bit of a problem in the basement of the house today- we share the basement with the other tenants as a storage space, and it flooded. You're welcome to hang around here if you like, or you could head out and explore Central while you wait for four. I left you eight hundred cenz, so you're covered for the day, if you need to but anything big." She ruffled my hair before heading out the door.

I immediately dove for the cenz and put them in my pocket. I wasn't sure how much eight hundred cenz could buy, but I was eager to find out. Humming quietly to myself, I left the apartment and made it down to the streets of Central.

Riza and the Colonel lived on a relatively quiet block, but soon enough I managed to immerse myself in the really busy parts of Central. I slipped through the crowd as though it were made of water, enjoying myself far too much than was probably normal. I slung my arm around a lamppost and stared out at the busy street, the bustling crowd, and the girl running away from two military agents as fast as she could run…

Wait. That didn't seem too normal, even for this mixed-up place. The girl had long, thick black hair and deep blue eyes, and she was wearing a black jumpsuit and weaving through the crowd easily, although the men in military garb weren't far behind her. She had something clutched to her chest and she was guarding it closely. It was her face, though, that was the strangest part. She looked desperate and terrified, but there was harsh anger written in every line of her face. There was something about this whole situation that seemed wrong.

One of the men had a gun, which he had pulled from his belt. "You!" He yelled at the girl, pointing it at her threateningly. "Stop running or I'll be forced to shoot!" The man didn't seem particularly evil, and I didn't really think he was involved in whatever it was that was wrong about the situation. He was just doing his job. Still, that didn't stop me from surreptitiously leaning over, stretching out my one arm, and pushing over a pile of crates directly in front of him.

He and his partner went down in a hail of eggplants and oranges, a mix I thought strange, but there was no time to worry about it because the girl was looking at me in wonder, an expression of hope on her face. I realized that tripping the agents wasn't going to help her enough. She needed a place to go.

I glanced at the men. They were trying to get to their feet and tripping over more fruits and vegetables, going back down. They weren't looking at me at all, and I lunged, grabbed the girl's hand, and ran like the wind. _So, I'm helping a felon now, _I thought. _I have _really _screwed up this world._ _What's next, world domination?_

We darted into yet another alley, but I didn't stop, dragging her all the way back to Riza's apartment. I opened the door with the key Riza had given me and dragged the girl up the steps, still running, although the chance that we were still being followed was slim. I hustled her into the apartment and slammed the door behind me, breathing heavily. "Damn," I huffed, putting a hand over my heart. "Being in a hospital for a few days really takes it out of a girl."

The mystery girl was looking up at me, suspicion in her eyes. As I watched, the bundle curled in her arms shifted slightly under the black cloth it was wrapped in, and she immediately went to stroking it, still frowning at me. "Thank you," she said slowly, her eyes slowly losing their suspicion. "You really just helped me out."

I shrugged. "There was something about you," I said offhandedly. "That whole situation seemed wrong."

The girl nodded vehemently. "Hell yes, something was wrong," she growled, looking out Riza's tiny window. The bundle in her arms moved again, and she murmured at it. "My name's Crystal, by the way," she added, giving me a grin. "You?"

"I'm Leoma," I said, moving towards her cautiously. "If it's alright, could you please tell me if I made a mistake or not in rescuing you or not?"

"You didn't make a mistake," Crystal said immediately. "In fact, I think you did a good deed, if that makes you happy."

"Okay," I said. "Why were those guys chasing you?"

"I stole something from Central Command," Crystal replied, unabashed. "But it absolutely needed to be stolen."

"What is it?" I asked tentatively. Crystal motioned me forward.

"Look," she whispered, and removed the blanket.

My eyes widened in horror. Crystal had a mewling little creature in her hand. It had dark brown fur and huge eyes, and looked like a cross between a fox, wolf, dog and cat. That wasn't the worst thing though. Fused in its abdomen was what looked like a playing card. The card stuck out of its lower back, and the creature appeared to be in pain. There was a transmutation circle on either side of the card, and when I touched it, it felt as though it were made of bone.

I forced myself to swallow. "What is it?" I whispered.

Crystal took a deep breath. "My sister."

I narrowed my eyes. "If this is a joke, it sure as hell isn't funny."

"It's not a joke! This is… was my sister. But now she's a chimera, as you can see."

"Oh, crap," I said. "This is not good. Um… Do you know how this happened?"

Crystal nodded. "You know about Psiren, right?"

"Yeah," I said. I'd heard about the master thief from Ed and Al.

"Anyway," Crystal continued. "Psiren is her identity when she's out robbing someone. At home she's just Clara, and I'm her little sister, Crystal. But eventually the military caught on to her tricks, and she got caught by some idiot detective. They took my sister away, and I decided to go after her." Her eyes darkened. "But by the time I made it here, it was too late. I snuck into Central Command and looked down in the cells for her, but there was nothing, so I snuck around for a bit until I found the labs. And my sister." She growled.

"They had her in a cage with a name tag on the front that said 'Psiren.' I knew it was her, and I took her. Of course, as I was heading out the door, the two idiots saw that I was holding something and asked me what it was, and I panicked and ran. The rest is history."

"The military is making chimeras again?" I mused aloud. "Last time it was only allowed because the Fuhrer turned out to be corrupt. But now that an Assembly leads Amestris, one of the members must be the culprit." I closed my eyes, thinking hard, and Sheska's smiling face popped into my head. "I know someone," I said, "Someone who might be able to help figure out who did this to your sister. But the thing is… I don't think there's a cure."

Crystal nodded. "I was afraid of that," she said. "The bastards." She held the little chimera to her chest, and it whimpered and snuggled into her. "She doesn't know me," Crystal explained. "She can't even speak. She's one of the strangest chimeras I've ever seen. It's the playing card that's especially weird. That was my sister's special type of alchemy, you know: it featured playing cards. It's almost as if the creature she became had something to do with her alchemy before she was taken."

"That is weird," I agreed, looking at Crystal. "This situation is a lot more complicated than I thought," I muttered under my breath. "The homunculi have a new mistress named Inferna, there are strange, seemingly useless chimeras being created for no apparent purpose, and I can do alchemy without any experience. There has got to be something that links all of this together."

"Huh?"

"Nothing," I said quickly. "Um… Do you want something to eat?" Crystal nodded.

"Being chased made me hungrier than I'd expect," she said, tossing her hair and throwing herself in one of Riza's chairs. "What've you got?"

I checked the fridge. "Do you want some bread? Because that's all there is in here."

Crystal snorted good-naturedly. "Hit me," she said, holding out a hand, and I picked up a slice of bread and dropped it in her palm. She bit off a chunk, chewed, and swallowed. "A bit stale," she said, "but not bad." She pulled off one of the corners and offered it to the chimera. Clara sniffed at it and took it in her tiny jaws, and I could see her needle-like teeth flash. She worked it around in her mouth for a moment and swallowed; black eyes bright.

I sat in the chair opposite Crystal and gave her a penetrating stare. "What are you going to do now?" I asked.

Crystal stared back at me. "I don't know," she said honestly. "I want to know who would do this to Clara, and why. I don't want to have to go all the way back to Aquroya without finding that out. Who's the person you know?"

"Her name's Sheska," I said. "She knows a lot of… interesting things. She might be able to find connections in this that other people wouldn't."

"Okay," Crystal said, and sighed, tipping her chair back. "I guess I should get an apartment, if I'm going to be staying here for a while."

"I suppose," I said. "I'd offer, but this is the Flame Alchemist's apartment, and I'm sure you don't want to room with _him._"

Crystal giggled. "Can you imagine? 'Hi, I'm a felon. Mind if I spend the night?' That would be ridiculous." I smiled, enjoying talking to a girl my own age.

"I'm actually going out at about three o' clock. I have to meet someone. Do you want to stay here 'till then, or…? Well, what else is there for you to do? If you go out, someone's bound to recognize you."

Crystal grinned. "You forget," she said. "I'm Psiren's little sister. If anyone could sneak out of here, it would be me." She reached behind her head and pulled up a hood, which she fixed over her face. In a matter of seconds, she was a shapeless silhouette holding a chimera that was suddenly swathed in folds of black. She reached into what looked like a pocket of her suit and pulled out three playing cards.

I swallowed. "You use alchemy?"

Crystal shook her head. "Nope," she said, voice muffled in fabric. "But these playing cards have steel edges, and I like using them when I need a distraction." She slipped up to me like a shadow. "We'll be in touch," she said, "because now I know where to contact you." In one fluid movement, she went to the window, unlatched it, and slipped out. My eyes widened in horror and I stared out, but I didn't see her falling to the ground. I looked up and she touched the top of my head with her foot gently, waving from the roof. Then she turned and vanished.

_In broad daylight too, _I thought. _That idiot. _Returning to the table, I slumped over with my head in my hands. There was a whole new element in this story, and I wasn't sure if I knew how to deal with it. Hopefully, my meetings in the park would help straighten things out. And if not, that was okay too.

After all, if I was getting automail, I'd have quite a bit of time to think about things.


	10. Meetings

I waited inside the house for most of the day, feeling an awful lot like a boring schmuck but lacking the willpower to drag myself away from Riza's table. Minutes dragged into hours, and at one point I fell asleep at the table, my cheek pressed against the cool wood. When I jerked back into consciousness, there was a thin line of drool trickling from the side of my face, and I could hear the door opening.

Riza staggered in, holding a box filled with what looked like junk. She staggered towards me and dropped the box in front of me, where it crashed with a resounding boom. Wiping the sweat from her forehead, she turned to me and smiled. "Still inside? I thought you said you'd be going out."

"I was going to," I sighed, swiping at the saliva on my cheek. "But then… things happened."

Riza didn't ask me for an elaboration, and I didn't supply one. Standing to my feet, I peered into the box of junk. There were dusty photographs, random trinkets, and a long curving object I immediately plucked from the box for a closer look.

"Oh, that," Riza said. "It was my grandfather's sword. You can use it?" She asked, shocked, as I swished it through the air experimentally.

"Well," I said. "Yes. Ed taught me how last year. He's pretty good." I neglected to mention that, although Ed was adept at using a sword made from his automail arm, I was quite a bit better than him with the real object. There was something about the way a sword felt like a deadly extension of my arm that made them appealing to me. Of course, I hadn't used a real sword since my lessons ended, and I was a bit rusty. But with luck, I'd get better at the sword while I learned how to use my new arm.

Reluctantly, I set the sword down on the table and glanced at the wall clock. It was two forty-five; just enough time for me to get to the park by Central Command. "I'm going now," I told Riza, and hurried out the door before she could tell me not to. I hastened down the steps two at a time and burst into the street again. I looked wildly around myself for a minute before spotting a huge white building that could only be Central Command. Of course, the building appeared to be clear across town, and I realized that I had a lot of walking to do.

I started off, glad as hell that I'd thought to set out an hour early. I hadn't been on a really long walk since I'd made it to Amestris, and my feet started aching within fifteen minutes. _A quarter of my time gone, and it doesn't look like I made any progress. Typical._

By three forty-five I'd started jogging, but Central Command was still maddeningly far away. _How does Colonel Mustang do this every morning? _I complained to myself. _He probably has somebody drive him. But did he offer to help me out? Nope, the jerk probably didn't even consider it._

I was startled out of my increasingly annoyed thoughts by the honk of a horn. I turned and gave the car driving along beside me a withering glare, hoping to scare the driver away. Of course, after that the car swerved even closer to the sidewalk and the driver peered out of the window and nodded at me. He had short blonde hair and dark sunglasses and reminded me vaguely of Ed, but his face was more angular and he looked like a real bastard.

"Hey," he said. "Wanna go for a drive?"

"No," I snapped, folding my arms over my chest and glaring at him.

He leaned forward a little bit more. "Come on," he said. "It'll be fun."

"I doubt that," I retorted, walking faster. The car sped up to match my pace.

The man driving pulled off his sunglasses and treated me to a scorching gaze with intense golden eyes. "Come on," he said, more insistently.

I was about to tell him to suck it when I gave his eyes a second glance. They really were intense, and reminded me of someone I knew. The eyes mirrored every movement of my own so fluidly that they hardly even seemed human… _Envy_.

"Okay," I said, walking towards the car. I yanked open the door and slipped into the passenger seat, shutting the door behind me and rolling up the window.

Envy smirked at me from behind the wheel. "So," he said, still pretending to be a human bastard. "What's your name?"

"Cut it out, Envy," I snapped. "I know it's you."

Envy melted back into his usual form, his face the image of shock. "How'd you know?"

"It's your eyes," I explained. "Something about them… I guess I can always tell when it's you."

Envy frowned and spun the wheel idly. "That's annoying," he said. "Although, if I blind you, you won't be able to see me, and it'll be a lot easier sneaking up on you."

"If you try it, I'll kill you," I said. "Oath or no oath." Envy looked disappointed.

"Boring," he said. "Alright, what is your name?"

"Um, Leoma?" I said.

"Oh. Okay then, where were you going?"

"The park by Central Command. Why were you stalking me?"

Envy shrugged. "We're allies, right?" He said. "We have to exchange information. Got anything for me?"

"Yeah," I said. "Chimeras." Envy's face went rigid, and he turned to me, purple eyes hard.

"What do you know about them?" He asked.

"They're making them again," I said. "I met a girl who had one; it looks like the chimeras they make have something to do with the alchemy the chimera used to use while it was still human."

Envy sighed. "Look," he said. "Do yourself a favor, and don't learn anything else about the chimeras."

"You know something, don't you? What are they being made for?"

Envy shook his head. "Not telling," he said. "Because if you know, Inferna will find you, and she'll bring you down."

"You know what?" I said. "You're a terrible ally."

"Not really," Envy said. "I've got a whole list of stuff to tell you. First of all, Inferna's interested in you."

"You told her about me?"

"Not in detail! I mentioned you, but I mostly told her about the Fullmetal brat and his friends. But she seemed really interested in you and the other girl too, until I described you both to her. Now she _really _wants to know more about you, and isn't interested in the other girl at all. She didn't tell me why, but she sent me to find out your name and anything else possible about you."

"If you tell her, I'll…"

"I'm not going to," Envy said. "I don't think I could, even if I wanted to. I'll say that I couldn't talk to you; you just ignored me and then snuck off or something."

"Okay…" I said. "Anything else?"

"Well, I was telling you about Inferna before that idiot alchemist boy interrupted us. She picked the name Inferna after she became one of Dante's many apprentices, a few years after I was created."

"You mean… your boss is almost as old as you? And you're really old, right?"

Envy snorted. "To you pathetic humans, I guess I am old. And I know what you're asking: Inferna is indeed 'really old.' She was Dante's most talented apprentice, and by the time she graduated she knew how to transfer her soul to other bodies. She traveled away from Dante and didn't resurface for years, as she'd stolen a few Philosopher's Stones from Dante and didn't want to fight her. Evidently she wanted to wait until Dante was dead to make her move, and now she's started… well, if I tell you, I'll have to kill you, so never mind."

"What happened to Gluttony?" I asked, ignoring his insults to my species.

Envy grinned. "He was weak," he said. "So my mistress killed him and made a better Gluttony. And I'm not telling you how or why she's making new homunculi either, so don't even try."

"Jerk," I growled. I peered out the window and blinked at the sight of the park. "Here already," I said, and opened the door, slipping out. At the last second, I remembered something, and poked my head back into the car. "Just to let you know, I'm about to meet with Jay Archer, the lightening alchemist, to discuss how to kill you. He hates all homunculi, so you should probably avoid him."

"Great," Envy said. "Now get out of my car."

"Not until you give me a way to contact you," I said. "You're going to be an awful ally if I can't call you when I need you."

Envy heaved a great sigh. "Fine," he said, reached into the glove compartment, and wrote something down on a piece of paper. He tossed it at me, and I peered at the number written in an untidy scrawl.

"Are you serious? You have a _phone_?"

He smirked. "I have an apartment too," he said. "Inferna didn't want all of us homunculi living with her. Just to let you know, though, I'm practically never at home, so if I miss your call I'll get back to you in a couple of years." He reached out, grabbed my head, and shoved me onto the curb. Before I could react, he slammed the car door in my face and drove off in a cloud of smoke.

Cursing, I lifted myself off the ground and limped to the entrance of the park. I stepped inside and wandered down the sole path, traversing through waves of trees and grass and looking out for Jay Archer. I spotted him pretty quickly; he was sitting on a park bench, apparently deep in thought. "Jay," I said, and he jumped to his feet.

"Hey, Leoma!"

"Hey," I responded. "So… you wanted to talk?"

"Well, yeah," Jay said excitedly. "I know that you're a talented alchemist, and we need to get rid of the homunculi once and for all. I figured that the first step would be to find out who brought them back and why, and from there we'll be able to… You look like you've got something to share." I flinched; I hadn't known my guilty expression had been so obvious.

I sighed. "You're right," I said. "It was me who brought them back. It's kind of a long story, but in short I come from another world and I accidentally used the homunculi to get here. So, it's my fault."

Jay stared at me for a minute. Then, to my utter and complete surprise, he punched me on the shoulder and grinned. "That's alright," he said. "I'm sure it was an accident; I know a little about the Gate from when I learned alchemy and I'm sure you didn't want to bring them back. Besides, now I have a chance to make them pay all over again for what they did."

"Wow," I said. "I honestly thought you were going to punch me." Jay laughed.

"I don't punch my friends," he chortled. I stiffened. _Friends? We barely know each other! _But I couldn't bring myself to say it to Jay's smiling face. I smiled back, trying to hide my momentary lapse in concentration.

"Lucky for me," I said, and Jay laughed again. _He's not so bad, _I thought to myself. _Better than that idiot Envy, at any rate._

"Well," Jay said, his laughter finally petering out, "I guess we're going to have to just try to hunt the homunculi down. I don't know how we're going to do it, to be honest, unless we use you as bait."

I gave him an indignant look. "Bait?"

"Well, yeah," Jay said, looking abashed. "I mean, they might be grateful to you for bringing them back, or something. Anyway, if they saw you and approached you, we could destroy them together with our alchemy."

"I guess that works," I said. _I'll have to warn Envy, _I thought. _It wouldn't look good if we caught him and I refused to fight him._

"Hmm," said Jay. "Maybe we should start moving; I think we're attracting attention." It was true; there was a hobo on another bench staring at us, especially me. As we got up and walked away, he shouted some very offensive things at me, and I had to drag Jay away by the collar to keep him from throttling the old man.

We walked to a stone bridge with a little stream running underneath, Jay calm again. Leaning on the stone felt good, even though the whole situation felt awkwardly like a date. We watched the fish for a little bit, and then Jay spoke again.

"Do you want to go down there? I think we can talk… more privately there." Jay was right; people were passing by us in a steady flow of bodies, and our conversation really shouldn't be privy to the public.

"Sure," I said, walking to the base of the bridge and stepping off the path into the grass. I sat myself on a flat rock by the water, and Jay settled in beside me.

"Do you mind moving over? My feet are getting wet."

"Baby," I teased, moving to give Jay some space. He gave me a mock glare and scooped up some water, blowing it in my face before I could react. I shrieked and spat water at Jay, nearly jostling him into the water.

"Jerk," I laughed, rubbing water from my eyes. I gave Jay a genuine smile, and suddenly the fun of the situation withered. I barely knew Jay, and even though he seemed like he might make a good friend, I shouldn't trust him completely until I knew that his intentions were good. "Homunculi," I said, brutally shoving the conversation back on track.

"Right; homunculi," said Jay, looking disappointed. He frowned. "It's going to be hard to kill them without their remains; impossible, in fact. That's what we're going to have to look for; the remains of the homunculi. I have no clue how we're going to do it, but we have to if we want to kill them."

"Right," I said. _Oh, Envy, _I thought. _Your remains won't even be hard to find. Your old identity isn't a secret. Your grave is around somewhere, and if Jay finds it, I lose an ally. And if this Inferna is really as dangerous as you think she is, I'm going to need as many allies as I can get._

I shivered. "We're so screwed," I said out loud.

Jay nodded gravely. "Oh, absolutely," he said. "But that doesn't mean I'm not going to try anyway," he added, and got to his feet. "Come on, Leoma," he said, extending a hand. "You're not going to be able to ford the mighty river in those heels."

I got up and took his hand, bracing against him as I hopped across the stream. It was hard to resist the urge to be Jay's friend; he was so cute, albeit in a puppy-dog way. The mud at the other side of the stream squelched at my heels, and I pulled a face. "Damn," I said. "These were new."

"We can trade shoes, if you want," Jay said. I looked at him, sure he was joking, but he appeared completely serious.

"Jay," I said. "Don't you think that might be slightly… weird?"

Jay laughed. "Oh, yeah," he said. "But I figured I'd offer, instead of leaving you to suffer."

"You're… sweet," I said.

"That's what friends do for each other, right?" Okay, Jay was nice, but I had to say something.

"Jay," I said. "I like you. I think you're nice. But I just met you yesterday, remember?"

A flash of hurt traveled across Jay's face, and I bit my tongue, feeling like a complete ass. But then Jay's eyes brightened.

"I'm sorry," he said, smiling at me. "I guess I shouldn't rush you. Some people warm up slower than others, right?" I nodded. "But I hope we can be real friends someday, too," Jay said, and I nodded again, trying to wipe the tension from my face. I wanted to be telling the truth, but I didn't know if I was. To be honest, I'd begun to think of myself as a deplorable, greedy little monster since my entrance into Amestris, and I had a bad feeling that I would end up being a really bad friend to Jay. But I didn't voice any of my thoughts, instead choosing to give Jay a tentative smile.

"So," I said. "Would two sort-of-friends walk with each other to the entrance of the park, so one of them could meet Winry, Ed and maybe Alphonse there?"

Jay nodded. "I think they would," he said, and together we walked back to the path and headed towards the park entrance. "You're still going to help me, right?" Jay asked tentatively.

I nodded. "Yeah," I said. "Those homunculi need to be stopped." _Not all of them. But hopefully by the time I figure out who Inferna is and get all three of us together, Jay, you'll see that._

We made it to the park entrance, and Jay stopped, turning to me. "Where are you meeting them?" He asked.

I shrugged. "I figured I'd just find them eventually," I admitted. "Like I found you."

"Okay," Jay said. "I'm going to go feed my cat."

I groaned. "You and your cat," I said. "Can't you leave food out for it?"

Something shifted in Jay's eyes. "Nope," he said. "My cat is… picky. Gotta go!" He turned and jogged out of the park, waving at me before vanishing down an intersection. _That was… weird, _I thought, but before I could pursue the subject further, I heard shouting, and I had a feeling that Ed and Winry were close at hand.

I turned around to discover Ed cowering under the gaze of a blonde, blue-eyed girl brandishing a wrench. She was red in the face and shouting furiously, while Ed looked as though he were desperately trying to appease her. He whipped out a tiny box and presented it to her, and she snapped the lid to reveal two tiny gold earrings that probably came from the hospital gift shop. Winry, because it was obviously her, smiled at the gifts, and then whipped around and smacked Ed across the face with the wrench. Leaving him on the ground in pain, she noticed me staring and walked over, setting down the wrench and briefcase she'd been holding. "Hello," she said. "You must be Leoma. I'm Winry." Before I could react, she wrapped her arms around me in a strong embrace. "Thanks for bringing him back," she whispered in my ear. "I didn't think I'd ever see that idiot again."

She released me and stepped back, her blue eyes sparkling. Her eyes immediately went to my arm stump, and she examined it thoughtfully, the excitement of a challenge etched all over her face. Ed slunk up behind her, a hand to his cheek and looking sulky. I ignored him, as Winry was rolling up my short yellow sleeve to examine my stump better. Apparently I wasn't going to have a chance to tell her that I wasn't quite sure automail was for me, because she was pulling out measuring tape and measuring the diameter of my arm already. Besides, I knew in my heart that I wanted to have two working arms again, even if it took me a year to get used to them.

"Hmm," Winry was saying. "Making the arm shouldn't be too difficult; I can piece it together on the train ride back home. By the time we get there, I should be pretty much ready to start surgery."

"Hang on," Ed said. "If we're just going back to Resembool, why'd you come meet us in Central? You just wasted a ton of money on the train tickets."

Winry shrugged. "You said she was still bedridden," she pointed out, "and by the time that changed I was halfway here."

"Whatever," Ed sighed. "How's Granny Pinako?"

"She pretty much doesn't leave bed now," Winry said. "I run the whole business by myself. I'm damn good at it, too." Her eyes glowed with pride.

"Oh, crap," I realized. "The money…" I didn't have any money for Winry, and from what I'd heard, the automail surgery was pricey.

Ed's eyes widened. "Winry," he said imploringly. "She doesn't have any money; she came from the other world. You can't honestly expect her to pay."

Winry huffed. "I have a policy now," she said. "Family friend or no, you pay." She looked me over, and her hard expression softened. "You seem like a nice kid," she told me. "Forget the money, I'm sure you can make it up to me while you're over at my house; we've got a lot of dishes to be washed!" She winked at me conspiratorially. "Besides," she mock whispered, "I owe you for keeping Ed alive. If he'd been all alone in that world he'd be long gone by now."

"Thank you," I said slowly. "But I can't accept…" I trailed off at the demon stares Ed and Winry were giving me. I swallowed. "Just thank you. That's all I wanted to say."

Winry swallowed. "You're completely welcome. Besides, I haven't had a girl over in years; once you can get out of bed it'll be fun!" She seemed really likeable, and I smiled with real warmth.

"Yeah," I said. "It _will _be fun. Aside from the extremely painful surgery bit."

Winry laughed and ruffled my hair. "Do you have anything you need to get? Or can we get going now? I'm sure we can get some train tickets at the station."

"Um, I have to make a phone call, actually…" I said.

"That's fine," Ed said. "There's a phone booth right by here." He started off, hands in pockets, walking quickly. I blinked. Ed never acted like this. He was usually loud and annoying, and only one variable had changed.

"Winry," I said slowly, as we walked behind Ed. "Before Ed left, were you and him… together?"

Winry jerked as though I'd slapped her, and then she smiled, although her eyes were full of pain. "No," she said. "We were just friends. Best friends, actually. But now I don't know if we're even that." Both of us looked at Ed, hurrying away from us as fast as he could walk. His whole body radiated tension.

"He's nervous," I said. "He doesn't know how to act around you. You two are going to have to talk soon."

Winry looked as though she wanted to cry for a split second, and then her features grew harsh. "Ha!" She said. "Ed can do what he wants; I don't care." She crossed her arms over her chest and looked annoyed. _You do care, Winry, _I thought to myself. _It's totally obvious that you two are in love, or were starting to fall for each other before Ed got dragged to Earth. I guess now it's going to have to be my mission to get you two together before Ed is overcome by sexual tension and destroys something._

Ed stopped in front of a phone booth outside the park. "Here we are," he said, rocking back and forth on his heels.

Winry's eyes widened. "This is where Mr. Hughes was murdered," she said softly. "Colonel Mustang told me."

Ed frowned. "You kept in touch with Colonel Bastard?" He asked, incredulous. "Why?"

Winry frowned. "Roy isn't evil, you know," she snapped.

"Roy?" Ed asked. "So you two are on a first name basis, huh? Guess you've been hanging out with 'Roy' long enough to know him a bit more intimately?"

Winry closed her eyes and bit her lip, looking as though she were trying to restrain herself from flying at Ed and beating him to death with her wrench. "Yes," she hissed. "I _have _been talking with Roy. After all, _you _haven't been available." She spun on her heels and marched away, bright red with fury. Ed looked dumbfounded, and then shook his head.

"That was bad of me, wasn't it?"

"Yeah," I said. "Nice work. She would never have an affair with the Colonel, as you well know. Before you go apologize to her, as I know you will, what's the phone number for the hospital?"

"343-567," Ed said absently, already heading off in the direction Winry had gone. I turned to the phone and plucked it off the receiver, holding it a short length away from my ear. I'd heard about Maes Hughes from Ed and Al, and it saddened me that I was using the phone that Hughes had made his last call on. _And who was it that murdered him? _A voice whispered in my head. _Envy, your new best buddy._

_ Shut up, _I told the voice firmly. _First of all, Envy and I are not 'best buddies.' We don't even like each other. And second of all, Ed didn't have a problem teaming up with that murderess Lust when he had to. It's a mutual relationship; that's all._

I dialed the number to the hospital and asked the cheery receptionist on the other end for Sheska. I was put on hold for a while, and at last I heard Sheska's voice over the phone. "Sheska," I gasped instantly. "I need you to do me a huge, huge favor."

"What is it?" Sheska asked slowly.

"Well, you see, I met this girl named Crystal…" I described the situation briefly. "I need to know more about the chimeras and why they're being made. And, for the love of God, don't tell anyone what you're doing. It's dangerous. If you don't want to do it, I understand completely."

"No, I want to," Sheska said immediately. "I don't want another situation like the one with Fuhrer Bradley. If I can help prevent that, I will. Now, how to get the books I need? I suppose I could… no… Oh, yes, that would work!" There was a click, and I realized that Sheska had hung up on me.

_Maybe it's not them, _I thought grimly, staring at the receiver. _Maybe it's me. Maybe I'm the type of person that must be hung up on._

I dialed the number to the Colonel's house and left a quick message on the answering machine, not wanting them to worry. Then I put down the phone and exited the booth, walking in the direction everyone had gone.

It looked as though the apology had gone well, because Ed and Winry were sitting side by side on a bench. When Ed spotted me, he got to his feet and accidentally jostled Winry in the process. She gave him a glare that could have frozen Hell over and smacked him with the wrench before marching over to me.

I sighed. This trip was going to be… eventful. 


	11. Train

Miracle of miracles, we managed to get the train tickets without much incident. Ed _did _have to threaten to deconstruct the train with alchemy before the conductor finally agreed to sell us tickets to a sleeper car, but it turned out all right in the end. I was sure that Al could have come up with a more diplomatic approach, but he was going to stay with the still recovering Noah.

Winry sat on the one of the bunks in our small room and immediately opened her briefcase. She pulled out her wrench, and something that looked like a screwdriver. She saw me staring and snatched my arm stump, dragging me into a sitting position next to her.

"No moving," she said. "I have to take a few measurements." Somehow she was holding the measuring tape again, and she immediately began winding it around the stump that used to be my arm and making detailed notes in a small book in her lap. I sighed and looked at Ed pleadingly, but he ignored me, apparently not caring about my boredom.

"I'm going to get some food," Ed said, standing up and stalking to the door.

"Wait!" I begged. "Bring me something!" He sighed.

"Fine," he said. "Winry, you want anything?" Winry didn't even look up.

"No," she said tersely. "I'm going to be busy for a while, seeing as I'm trying to make a new limb for your friend here. Please, go on." Ed looked at her, dumbfounded, and then he shrugged and left the carriage.

"You're really mad at him, aren't you?" I asked softly. Winry tightened the measuring tape around my arm stump, and I winced, although it seemed as though she'd done it unconsciously.

"Yes," she said. "I know he had to do it, but I was furious that he came back to us only to turn back around and go back to that other world. He even took Al with him! I mean, the situation wasn't his fault but I sure as hell wasn't happy about it."

"But it isn't really him you're mad at, is it?" I coaxed. Reluctantly, Winry shook her head. "I thought so," I said. "Then the only thing to do is to just forgive him."

Winry frowned and pulled out what looked like a spare arm made of automail, pressing it up to my side for a few seconds before tossing it back inside her briefcase. She sighed and slumped in her seat suddenly. "Yeah," she said. "I guess you're right." Her eyes looked dangerously moist, and I realized that if something didn't happen in a few minutes, she was going to start crying.

The door swung open. "Short line," Ed said, waving a few sandwiches in the air. "Hey… Winry, are you crying?"

"NO!" Winry screamed; the wrench already halfway in its signature ark towards Ed's head. He ducked and it slammed into his antennae, pinning him to the wall. He looked like he was about to say something cutting, but his mouth snapped shut when Winry got to her feet and stalked forward. Her blonde hair was covering her eyes and she walked slowly, like she was restraining herself from murdering him.

"Um… Winry…" Ed said, nervously trying to pry the wrench from the wooden train wall. It didn't budge, a fact I'm sure would end up costing us money later. Ed gave up with the wrench and flinched as Winry stopped directly in front of him.

She leaned forward; arms extended, and suddenly wrapped her arms around him. "I missed you," she breathed into his chest. Ed's golden eyes were huge, but slowly one arm came down and he pressed his metal hand into Winry's back. I smiled from my bunk, well aware that I was witnessing a private moment but glad that Winry hadn't forced me to witness the brutal murder of my friend. "You need new automail," the engineer said, still pressed against Ed. "I can fix you up while Leoma… is recovering." The smile vanished from my face. Of course, it would probably be a month until I could even muster enough energy to drag myself out of bed after the surgery. The thought of the pain made my stomach turn, and suddenly the sandwich still clutched in Ed's hand didn't look quite as appetizing.

Winry let Ed go, pulled the wrench out of the wall, and turned to me, walking back to my side. "Just a few more measurements," she said. "I promise this won't take too long…"

By the time she finished measuring me, the sun was pretty much completely set and I was in a terrible mood. I didn't say a thing, though, as Winry was doing me a huge favor and if I one little complaint escaped me Winry would probably beat me to death with her wrench. I was already terrified of the thing; I'd seen Ed brained with it about three times.

I wandered into the dining car surrounded by an aura of darkness. I got a bowl of carrot soup from the counter and sat at a table with it, wondering what the hell compelled me to get carrot soup. Ed was tucking into one of five sandwiches, even though he'd gotten food earlier, and Winry had a bowl of normal-looking chicken soup that looked much better than _my_ soup. I took a sip and was actually surprised; it was quite good, nice and creamy. With my mood improved somewhat, I took my leave from the dining car on the grounds that it was high time I had a shower, which was true. I was amazed that we had gotten a carriage with a shower, which probably had something to do with Ed's threats, and I was ecstatic that I would finally get to wash off the layer of dirt that seemed to have settled onto me since I'd come to Amestris.

As soon as I was safely locked in the bathroom, I peered into the mirror over the small sink and absorbed myself. My hair was in a curled, tangled mess around my head, and my icy eyes stared back at me defiantly. I looked like an angry street urchin, which was exactly what I was, or had been, until Alphonse had found me sheltered in a doorstep. It had been a rainy winter's night, and I had been absolutely freezing, but unwilling to venture into the night to find a better place to sleep. Following my daring escape from the orphanage (which had really just been me walking out the doors with another family, pretending I was with them, on one of the busy days; the place really couldn't have cared less if I escaped or not) I'd lived on the streets for years, and while it was liberating, on nights like this it was _cold_.

I was trying to get comfortable against the cold stone when I'd heard the high, clear voice emanating from the cobblestones in the alley. "Hey," it said. "Are you going to sleep here tonight?"

"Yes," I'd said suspiciously, ready for a fight. I'd been beaten up before by housewives who didn't want a teenage vagabond sleeping on their doorsteps, and I was in no mood to be beaten again.

Then Al had appeared through the rain, and I'd relaxed somewhat. He didn't seem like he wanted to hurt me; the opposite, in fact. In all my years in Munich, he was the first person to see past my ratty appearance and care about the person trapped under layers of dirt and grime from weeks of living in gutters and alleys.

I brushed away the memories impatiently and pulled my shirt over my head. It was shower time, and I was almost as excited by the prospect of being clean again than I had been on that night when Al had offered me a warm place to sleep. I stepped into the tiny rectangular shower and turned on the water, sighing as rivulets of warm water ran down my body. There was nothing like a warm shower to clear out your head. Slowly, I turned my arm stump so that it was directly under the water, trying to wash it in the hopes that I wouldn't get an infection. It stung, but not as badly as I'd thought it would. _I do heal faster than I used to, _I thought to myself. _Ever since I've gotten here, I've been changing. I can use alchemy, or something like it, anyway, and I heal much faster than a normal human. What's going on?_

Sighing, I massaged my hair with the train-company supplied shampoo, trying to work the curls into something manageable with my fingers. _You don't have any answers, Leoma, _I told myself. _Maybe you should start looking for them, instead of having weird mental conversations with yourself._

I took the tiny train soap from the ledge built into the shower wall and tentatively rubbed it against my arm stump. I yelped as a lance of pain traveled up my arm and into my spine. _That was more painful than I expected. The fact that I find soap painful is not encouraging, especially since I'm traveling to get the automail surgery. Joy._

The shower really was tiny; there was barely enough room for me to lift up my one elbow. I turned around, trying to put the soap back on the ledge, and managed to wedge myself in an uncomfortable corner. I tried to move my foot and stubbed my toe against the side of the shower. I growled in my throat and my wings popped out of my back, stretching out and squashing up against the glass sides of the shower. I resisted the urge to spread them out all the way, knowing if I did so I'd probably break the glass by mistake, and that would be another thing we'd have to pay for.

Experimentally, I let one purple wing drift under the water and sighed as it drummed against the paper-thin surface of the wing. My wings had been torn up pretty badly in the fight against Envy, but it looked as though they'd healed themselves, even when I hadn't been utilizing them. I groaned and slid down the slick shower wall until I was crouched at the bottom of the shower with my head in my hand and my wings wrapped around my body. It was just too strange, this whole situation. _Homunculi, alchemy, chimeras, wings, the Truth… And I've barely been here._

I turned off the water and got out of the shower, toweling myself off with one of the rough provided towels. I didn't have anything to sleep in except my clothes, so I slipped back into the shirt and my underwear, automatically slashing two slits in the back of my shirt with my claws to make room for the wings. I wasn't going to sleep in my skirt, and I didn't really care if Ed saw me in my underwear or not. I didn't mind if Winry saw me either; we were both girls, after all.

I left the bathroom and walked back into ours to the sight of a snoring Ed on one of the bottom beds and Winry working like a maniac on the other. She had a whole bunch of metal parts out on the bed, and she was using a variety of tools to piece the parts together. There was nothing there that looked remotely like an arm yet, but I had faith in the automail engineer. She looked up when she saw me and smiled.

"Hey," she said, beckoning me over. "Is there anything specific you'd like about your automail? Do you want to have weapon automail, maybe? Or the new lighter model? You can move like lightening with it. It handles like a dream, but a lot of people prefer the regular model which feels more like an arm."

I swallowed. My real arm was gone anyway, and it wasn't coming back. Why try to pretend like I still had it when I could have an arm that would enable me to move much faster? "I'll take the lighter model, please."

Winry smiled, ecstatic. "That's just great! Practically no one ever wants the lighter model, but it's really a better deal. Plus, it's easier to make, and…" She trailed off, looking at my back.

"It's alchemy," I exclaimed quickly. "Or something like that… Anyway, I can grow these," I waved a wing, "or even turn into a full dragon when I want to. It's pretty useful, but… Oh, crap."

"What?" Winry asked, still staring at my wings with a dazed expression.

"What'll happen to the automail when I change shape? If it stays attached to my leg stump when I'm a dragon I guess that could work, but if it breaks…"

Winry rolled her eyes. "There's a solution to this problem: don't change. I mean, I'm not an alchemy fan, but even I know that is really weird alchemy. For all you know, you could hurt yourself really badly by changing."

"I guess you're right," I said slowly, wings sinking into my back. Winry smiled.

"You alchemists," she said. "Anyway, looking at those wings, I realized that you probably have to have the lighter model of you want to fly, because I doubt you could fly with the heavier model weighing you down."

"You're right," I said. "Thanks." I headed over to the bed where Ed was asleep and climbed up to the top bunk, not wanting to sleep over Winry, who'd probably be tinkering with loud metal parts all night. I settled myself against the hard mattress and closed my eyes, expecting to be awake for quite some time because of the constant motion of the train. I was asleep in seconds.

I woke up to pitch darkness in our car. I looked over my shoulder to the window and saw that it was still night outside, the blurred landscape rolling by at a steady pace. I relaxed in my bed and was about to return to my slumber when I heard a loud yawn from the bunk behind me.

"Hey, Winry," Ed said. "Are you still working?"

I heard the clank of something metal being placed down. "Yeah," Winry said, yawning.

"You don't have to stay up all night on that, you know," Ed said. "Leoma's not gonna mind if she has to wait for her automail."

"I know," Winry said. "But I can't stop working now. Do you know what I mean? It's a challenge, and I won't be able to sleep anyway; I'll be thinking about it all night."

Ed laughed quietly. "You used to say that when you were just learning about automail. I remember this one week where you wouldn't play with us at all because you were reading some boring book about metal."

Winry laughed too. "I remember that," she said. "You guys threatened to never play with me again if I didn't put down the book, and I told you that I'd be too busy with automail to even notice you were gone." She sighed. "But when you were really gone… I noticed."

There was silence from Ed's bunk for a while. I was well aware that I was intruding on what was meant to be a private conversation, but I couldn't fall back asleep and I wasn't going to ruin the moment by pretending to wake up. Silently, I told myself to just close my eyes and attempt to drift off, even though I knew I'd be staying up and listening to the conversation.

"I'm sorry, Winry," Ed said finally. "I had to try to bring back Al the first time, and the second time… I was trying to protect you."

"What?" Winry asked.

"Well, not just you," Ed said quickly. "A lot of people; everyone in Amestris and the other world as well. But, when I was making the decision to close the Gate once and for all, you were one of the main people I did it for."

"Then how did you come back?"

"Leoma opened the Gate," Ed said slowly. "I don't know how, but she managed to get it open after I'd closed it. After that, I figured there was no point in trying to close it again, because it could be opened fairly easily."

"Leoma… She's a really great kid, even if she is a bit young for you. Congratulations."

I heard Ed choke, and then he laughed. "Leoma? Nope, we're not together. People usually assume that because we're so alike, but she's way too young for me."

"Oh… then you're with that girl Noah that you were telling me about?"

I assumed that Ed shook his head. "I never found anyone in the other world that I loved… like that," he said. "How about you?"

"No one," Winry said softly. There was silence for a moment, and then I heard Winry picking up her tools. "I can't put them down for too long," she confessed. "They draw me back in."

"Well, if you enjoy staying up till dawn…" Ed muttered. "So," he said. "What have you been up to while I was away?"

"Mostly I've just been running the automail shop," Winry admitted. "Sometimes I take a visit to Central to meet up with Sheska and Roy. I mean, Roy has a lot to tell me about my parents in Ishbal, and Sheska and I are good friends. What about you? How was it like, in that other world?"

"The other world wasn't terrible," Ed admitted. "But we spent most of our time searching for a way back. Mostly, we wanted to find a way that would leave the Gate closed but still get us back here, but we couldn't find a thing. I still don't know how Leoma did it."

"There's more to her than meets the eye, I think," Winry said, and I had a feeling that I was being stared at. I resisted the urge to make a face at them and simply rolled over as though in my sleep. There was a loud yawn from Ed.

"Go to sleep," Winry said immediately. "You're no fun when you don't sleep; you get cranky and annoying. It's enough to drive anybody nuts."

"…Alright," Ed said. He yawned again, and then there was silence below me, broken occasionally by the clang of metal from Winry's bunk.

I smiled in the darkness. _Those two are perfect for each other, _I thought, drifting off again, _even if they don't know it yet…_

When I woke up for the second time, sunlight was streaming in through the window. Winry was still doggedly piecing together bits of metal. There was definitely an arm now, and it appeared as though she were tinkering with the palm of the hand. I had a bad feeling that she hadn't slept all night, a feeling which was intensified when she glanced up at me and I noticed the circles under her eyes.

"Did you sleep at all?" I asked, climbing down from my bunk. "You don't have to stay up all night."

"I know," Winry said, smothering a yawn with her hand, "But I like to get things done. Besides, I finished the first arm cylinder, and I can probably finish the rest of the hand today. I'll rest tonight, when we make it back home, and tomorrow I'll finish attaching the two and adding the necessary modifications. Then we can start." I nodded, already scared stiff at the prospect of 'starting.'

"So, um, what exactly happens during the automail surgery?" I quipped, sitting down beside Winry. She placed the metal palm down and looked at me, and I had a feeling that I was about to hear some very scary stuff.

"The surgery itself is relatively simple. I attach the nerve braid first- that's what allows you to control the automail as you'd control your original arm. That part isn't too bad; it's done under anesthetic, so you won't feel it. Then, I set a metal base into the bone of your shoulder for the automail to plug into; that's not the bad part either, you're still under anesthetics. It's the part when I attach the arm to the base that hurts like hell. The anesthetics won't do anything for _this _pain as this pain is strictly nervous-system; nothing to do with damaged skin or bones. And you have to be awake when I plug it in, because your brain won't know to connect the automail arm to the rest of your body if you're asleep. Luckily, the connection only takes about a millisecond, and you pass out right after that."

I swallowed. "It's that bad?"

Winry shook her head. "Worse," she said. "A lot of people have symptoms after surgery. Vomiting blood is one of the main ones." I groaned; I'd had quite enough of blood-vomiting. "Then there's the fact that most people stay in bed for weeks after the surgery; in too much pain to move. When they finally regain control over their own body, they still can't move the automail limb, as doing so causes tremendous pain. After around six months of this, the patient can start to move their new limb slightly. It takes most people years to exercise the limb enough until it's functional, although Ed did it in around four months. It must have hurt like hell, but he did. I have a feeling you're going to be like him in that regard." Winry paused and looked at me sympathetically. "You scared?"

I nodded. "Terrified," I admitted.

"Don't be," said Ed from across the room, apparently having woken up. "Aside from the fact that waking up for the first month is going to plunge you into a state of indescribable agony, it's not too bad."

"Here's some advice," I moaned. "Don't ever try to be a motivational speaker. You suck at it."

"Thank you," said Ed, getting to his feet and heading to the bathroom. Winry smiled at me.

"You'll be fine," she said. "Think about it like this: Ed had to have both his leg and his arm done at the same time. Your surgery is only going to be half as painful as is."

"Oh," I said. "That does help." Winry grinned, picking up the metal piece again.

"It always does," she said happily. "I use Ed as my poster child every time."

"Does that mean I get a right to your profits?" Ed asked, reappearing in the doorway.

"Unfortunately for you, no," Winry said, standing up. "Come on, I'm starving!" I looked at Ed, pulled on my skirt, and followed.

We walked to the dining car and sat down, Winry still fiddling with the piece in her hand. Seeing as she wasn't going anywhere, Ed and I picked up croissants and tea for all of us. We sat and ate in silence. I didn't know what the others were thinking about (although I was pretty sure Winry was thinking about automail), but I was worrying about the surgery. The idea of being in incredible pain for a month was not one I found appealing, even if my freaky body helped me heal faster than I normally would.

We finished and headed back to our carriage. Ed quickly became bored and began to read some book he'd brought with him in his suitcase. I had no idea how he'd managed to get one in the few days he'd been back in Amestris, but I wasn't about to ask. Winry was still tinkering with my new arm, so I took a seat by the window and watched the world go by.

I watched the world go by for _hours. _It was maddening how boring a train ride could be, especially when ones companions were absorbed in their own doings. Eventually I was forced to leave the carriage on the grounds that I was slowly going insane. I walked down through the aisle of sleeper cars, trying to get used to the swaying. It wasn't easy, and when the train made a sudden jerk I stumbled into someone and we both ended up crashing to the floor. That someone turned out to be a little boy, and I felt guilty, afraid I'd squashed him. He was wearing a floppy hat that his most of his face, but as he tumbled to the ground it fell off. He turned his head quickly, almost as if he were trying to hide from me.

"Ah, sorry," I said, getting to my feet and offering the little boy a hand. To my surprise, he shook his mane of dark hair stubbornly.

"Watch where you're going next time," he snarled, standing up himself. I realized two things at once; the boy had an automail leg and arm, and as he turned away from me I caught a flash of violet from his eyes.

"Wrath!" I hissed, and he turned around, looking annoyed. "What are you doing here?"

"What do you think? I'm going to Resembool."

"Why?"

"My automail needs tuning up," he said impatiently. "I guess you're going to get the surgery."

"Yeah…" I said, and Wrath smirked.

"I've heard it hurts a lot," he said, violet eyes inscrutable. "Are you gonna cry?"

No point in lying to the little demon. "Probably," I said.

"Good," Wrath replied. "You deserve to hurt a little more."

"I do," I said softly. The homunculus turned from me and began to walk down the aisle.

"Wait!" I said, before I could stop myself. "I'm in a car with Winry and Ed. You could come with us, if you want. There's only a few more hours to the ride, anyway."

Wrath peered at me suspiciously, and then shrugged. "Okay," he said. "Winry's nice; Ed's okay. You're annoying."

"Gee, thanks," I grumbled. Wrath may have said earlier that he didn't hate me, but he certainly didn't like me, either. Still, I figured I ought to keep the little homunculus close, where I could keep an eye on him. I was really curious about what he'd been doing while I hadn't seen him, but I decided not to ask. He wouldn't tell me, anyway.

I turned to go back to our car, and he followed me. I opened the door and beckoned him inside; hoping to God Ed wasn't going to order him out. Winry noticed the addition to our party first, and dropped the wrench she'd been holding. "Wrath? I haven't seen you for ages! What happened to you?"

"I died," Wrath said. "Then _she _brought me back to life."

"Wow," said Winry. "You bring homunculi back to life, too?"

"That wasn't really me," I said. "I mean, it was my fault it happened, but the Truth was the one who actually did it… not that I shouldn't be held responsible," I added weakly under Wrath's patronizing stare.

"Hey, Wrath," said Ed, already picking up his book again. I should have known that Ed wouldn't even care about the fact that I'd just invited a homunculus in.

Wrath sat by Winry and immediately began to ask her questions about what she was doing, why, and if Winry could perhaps tune his automail up while that annoying girl with the ugly hair was in bed. "I'm making automail for Leoma, because she asked for it, and sure," Winry said. "You don't like Leoma very much."

"Nope," Wrath said happily. I decided to just stay out of it. I owed Wrath enough, as it was.

I watched the scenery outside for another three hours. The rolling hills and flowering shrubs and trees outside my window astonished me. I'd always been a city kid and this was my first visit to the countryside. I'd never seen so much green, and I decided that if I ever got the chance to have a family in this world, which I probably wouldn't, I was going to drag them out to live in Resembool, or at least somewhere not in a city.

The train screeched to a stop so suddenly I was thrown into the wall. Ignoring the snickers from Wrath, I got to my feet and headed to the door with the others. We stepped out of the train onto a stone platform in the middle of rolling hills that stretched into the distance. There were birds chirping, and the place seemed much more peaceful than Central had. "It's beautiful," I said.

"Welcome to Resembool!" Replied Winry, and I smiled, although it was tinged with nerves.

_Surgery time, _I thought to myself, and prayed that I was ready.


	12. Surgery

By the time we made it to Winry's house, the sun had set and stars twinkled in the velvet sky. Winry ushered us inside and opened her mouth. "GRANNY, WE'RE BACK!" She screamed.

"GLAD TO HEAR IT, SWEETHEART!" A voice that obviously belonged to Granny Pinako replied. Winry hurried up the stairs and left Ed, Wrath and I standing in the vestibule.

"She's visiting Granny," Ed said. "Then she'll probably stay up all night finishing your automail."

"Do you think I should tell her to stop…?"

"If you want to get brained with a wrench, then go right ahead. Otherwise, no."

"Alright… Um, where should we sleep, do you think?"

Ed shrugged. "They've got like three guest rooms for their clients. Take your pick." He gestured down the hall, and I walked to one of the rooms and opened the door.

"Is this one of the guest rooms?"

"Yeah," said Ed. "Good night, Leoma."

"See you in the morning," I replied, shutting the door softly behind me. I flopped into bed immediately, completely worn out from train travel. I didn't know how Winry could stand to stay up for two nights in a row, and I hoped she wasn't going to perform surgery while she was so exhausted.

I closed my eyes and a thrill of nerves fluttered in my stomach. _The surgery's tomorrow, _I thought to myself. _I won't be sleeping tonight._

It turned out that my premonition was right. I tossed and turned in Winry's comfortable bed, exhausted but too afraid to sleep. Every time I closed my eyes I could see Winry drilling a hole in my shoulder, and that mental image set me off again. I was drenched in sweat and trembling in the dark, seriously considering getting up and telling Winry I'd changed my mind, when I heard the sob.

It was coming from the room to the right of me, and I was immediately intrigued. I doubted that Ed would be crying this late at night, and it didn't sound like Winry, either. That left only one person… well, homunculus, to be exact.

I was out of my room before I could consider what it was that I was doing. Wrath seriously disliked me, but maybe he needed help, and I wasn't about to ignore him. Gently, I knocked on the door to his room. "Go away!" He snapped immediately, which I took as an invitation to open the door.

Wrath was curled up on his bed, tangled up in the sheets. He gave me a deadly look as I poked my head in his room. "What do _you _want?" He growled.

"I heard you crying," I said bluntly. "I wanted to know if you were okay."

Wrath sniffled. "I'm fine," he growled. "And even if I wasn't, I wouldn't want you coming in here to try and make me feel better. I don't like you at all."

I drifted a little farther into the room. "I know," I said. "But…"

"You want to try and make me feel better, don't you?" Wrath asked. "You think that maybe if you do that, you won't be as guilty." I nodded slowly, a lump in my throat.

"You know me better than I know me," I said sadly. "Humans really are deplorable creatures, aren't they?"

"Yes," said Wrath. "So are homunculi. No one is entirely innocent." He gave me a harsh look. "But some people are more innocent than others."

I walked to his bedside and sat on the edge of his bed, fairly certain he wasn't about to kick me out. "Why were you crying?" I asked.

"I miss mommy," Wrath said. "ButI'm afraid to kill myself and go back to her. I'm afraid if I do that, I won't go to mommy, that I'll go somewhere else instead."

"Why don't you hate me?" I asked him. "You should hate me. You said that mommy told you not to hate, but you're Wrath; you're anger. You should be filled with a burning passion to destroy me."

"I'm not anger anymore," Wrath said. "Dying changes homunculi. I bet that Envy isn't quite as full of envy as he used to be, and that Gluttony… Well, Gluttony's gone, so never mind."

"Gluttony's gone? You know about that too?"

"Yes," Wrath said. "I saw Gluttony get killed. How did you know?"

_Envy and I are allies, _I thought. "I can't tell you," I admitted.

Wrath shrugged. "Keep your secrets. They'll get you in the end."

"Cheerful," I noted.

"But it's true," Wrath retorted.

"Alright," I said. "When did you see it happen?"

"After I left you at the hospital, I came back down to the Underground City. There had been lights on in Dante's old palace when I had been taking you to the surface, and I wanted to see if someone was there. Well, I came down, and there was a woman standing outside, talking to Envy. Gluttony was starting to wake up, and she clapped her hand and made a transmutation circle under him. Then she pulled a set of teeth out of a bag she'd been holding and made a spear out of a building to impale Gluttony on. I guess the teeth were his human remains, because he melted into nothing. Anyway, she said something about Wrath being missing and I decided to run."

"Crap," I said. I'd already known about Inferna, of course, but I had to pretend that the news was shocking. There was one good thing that could come of this, though. "You have to tell Ed and Winry," I said. "They need to know about the new enemy."

"I guess so," Wrath said. "I wonder what side I'm on, this time."

I thought of Envy, and wondered the same thing.

Wrath cocked his head at me. "Aren't you worried that I might not be on your side?"

"No," I said. "I don't think there are going to be any clear sides this time. Things are already confusing enough as it is, and I'm beginning to think everyone will be on their own side."

"I guess so," Wrath agreed. He looked at me. "You look tired, human. Were you awake?"

"My name's _Leoma," I_ said, "and yes, I was awake." I sighed and leaned back against the wall. "I'm scared."

"Pain isn't scary," Wrath said. "Not for me, anyway. I wasn't scared for the automail surgery, because after the first jolt of pain it went away. It's fun being a homunculus."

"Well that's fair," I muttered. "Aren't you tired?"

"I don't sleep, anyway," Wrath said. "I'm lonely. No one ever plays with me at night. Do you want to- hey! Who said you could fall asleep in my bed!"

"Tired," I mumbled, curling up in a ball on Wrath's sheets.

"I hope you have nightmares," the little homunculus said warningly, but all the same I could feel him pulling a sheet over my prone form as I slipped into a doze…

"Owww!" I opened my eyes, squinting in pain and wondering why my back suddenly hurt so much. I realized that golden light was flooding Wrath's room, and that I was looking up at said light from the floor. Wrath was peering down at me from the side of the bed, smirking. "You _pushed me?_" I gasped, sitting up and rubbing the back of my head. It hurt like hell. "Why?"

"I said your name but you didn't wake up, so…"

"I assume that you didn't even try to shake me," I growled, pushing myself up from the floor. "Why am I awake?"

"Winry finished your automail," Wrath said. "But she decided to take a long nap before surgery. She says she'll be awake and ready to prep you by ten o' clock at night, so that way she'll have about eighteen hours of sleep, cuz she finished the automail at dawn. Also, Ed told me to tell you that it's breakfast time."

"Alright," I said. As soon as Wrath had mentioned surgery, all my fears had come rushing back. At least I'd had a brief reprieve, but now I was going to have to wait until ten to get the surgery. I had all day to think about it. "What time is it now?"

"Ten," Wrath said. "You sleep late." I rolled my eyes and headed for the door, stepping out of Wrath's room and into the hall. The smell of fried eggs pervaded my nostrils, and I followed it to the source, which was a bright, cheerful kitchen in which Ed was tossing some eggs on a pan.

"Hey, Leoma," he said. "Hey, Wrath."

"Morning," I said, sitting at the table and staring at the eggs. _Why hello, pretty lady, _one of them said. _You're looking lovely._

_ You flatter me, _I giggled mentally, too tired to berate myself for having mental conversations with my breakfast.

_Girl, you are _gorgeous! _Except for that whole arm thing…_

_ Don't worry, _one egg told the other. _She's getting surgery today, so that'll be fixed._

_ Surgery, hooray!_

_ Surgery!_

_Surgery!_

_SURGERY!_

"Shut up!" I told the eggs. Ed and Wrath stared. "Never mind…"

Ed laughed. "You should have seen me on the day of my surgery! I had an argument with a pear about the necessity of having four working limbs." He set the plate down in front of me and patted my shoulder. "Don't be worried. It's really bad, but it's better than not having an arm."

"I'm fine," I said, viciously stabbing one of the eggs with my fork and watching yellow yolk spread across the plate, almost like blood. "I'm not worried at all." _What a terrible liar I am._

I finished eating my eggs and turned to Wrath. "Do you want to play with me?" He stared.

"Why would I want to play with _you_?" He asked. I shrugged, uncomfortable, and realization colored his features. "You just want a distraction!" He gasped. A smirk grew on his lips. "Alright," he said, and threw one of his fried eggs at my head. Unfortunately for me, he had impeccable aim, and the egg landed right on the center of my head and immediately began to ooze yolk into my hair.

"WRATH!" I screeched, swiping at my hair with a cloth napkin while cursing at the little homunculus with every expletive I knew. I rushed to the sink and ducked my head under the faucet, dousing my head with icy cold water. "WHAT IS WRONG WITH YOU!"

Wrath shrugged. "It was fun," he said. "I wanted to see what would happen." I plucked up the bar of soap from the side of the sink and vigorously rubbed my head with it.

"Well, now you know," I growled. "You make one human very unhappy. Ed, smack that little horror for me."

"Sorry, Leoma," Ed said lazily. "It was kinda funny…"

"AUUGH!" I wailed, shaking out my hair like an angry dog. Then I shrieked as a wrench connected with the side of my face and sent me sprawling.

"Quiet," Winry growled from the doorway. "I need sleep." I had a feeling that she wasn't even really awake, because she turned like an automaton and marched off back to bed, leaving me with the wrench.

"Owww," I whispered, massaging my now-aching cheek. "That really does hurt, Ed."

"No kidding," Ed replied. Wrath suddenly got up from his chair and looked at me imperially.

"I'm bored," he announced. "Play with me."

"But you just…"

"I changed my mind," he said evilly, grabbing my hand and dragging me up. He pulled me through the hall and out the door onto the grass. "Okay," he said. "I want you to run away, and I'll chase you."

"Fine," I sighed, flipping out my dripping wet hair but thankfully clean hair. I started to jog halfheartedly, and Wrath tackled my legs and brought me crashing to the ground.

"Jeez! Is today 'annoy or injure Leoma day'?" I snapped. "Cuz I never got the memo."

"Nobody sends out memos for these things, Leoma," Ed said, evidently having followed us out. "You just have to know about them."

"I stand corrected," I muttered, trying to get up. "Wrath, for the love of God, let go of my knees!"

"No," Wrath said stubbornly, and started to tickle my kneecap. He couldn't have known, but I had never been ticklish at all, save on my kneecaps. I was totally helpless when it came to anyone tickling my kneecaps.

"Wrath…" I wheezed, in between bouts of hysterical laughter. "What the hell is wrong with you…?" Ed wandered over, apparently interested.

"Hey, I didn't know Leoma's kneecaps were ticklish. That's useful information, right there."

"You guys… so funny…!" I shrieked, but as I was laughing, the sarcasm in my tone went unnoticed.

Wrath didn't release me for another ten minutes, and by the time he did I was so winded from the laughing I had to lay in the grass for a half hour to recover. Then Ed transmuted a ball for us, and we played catch in the yard. I was having fun, to tell the truth, and everything that was worrying me was at the back of my mind.

At lunchtime we all trooped into the house like conquering soldiers. I fixed Ed and I sandwiches, the one food I didn't suck at making, and, according to Ed, they weren't bad. Then he stared up the stairs and announced, "I'm going up to visit Granny. You want to come?"

"Is Granny an old human?" Wrath asked. Ed nodded. "Then no," he said.

"What's wrong with old people?" I asked, aghast.

"They're boring," Wrath said. "They don't do anything. Babies too."

"He may look like a ten year old but he's already a cynic," I muttered. "Alright, Ed, I'll go with you."

"Cool," Ed said, and got up. I got up as well, and followed Ed up the stairs. I found myself in a carpeted hallway that mirrored the one downstairs. Ed set off down the hallway and opened the door to one of the rooms. I hesitated at the doorstep, suddenly unsure of whether or not I should intrude on a private moment between Ed and someone he cared about. I decided to just lean against the doorframe and watch events unfold.

Ed stepped into the view of a tiny woman lying in bed. Short gray hair in a severe bun was resting against the pillow in stark contrast to the pure white of her pillow. She had on thick glasses that I doubted she could see through, but apparently she could, because she stirred at Ed's approach.

"Edward Elric! Winry told me that you were back and I didn't believe her. Apparently she was telling the truth." The old lady surveyed him. "What are you standing around for? Come, give me a hug!" She opened her arms invitingly, and Ed leaned over her bed and hugged her tightly.

"I missed you, Granny," Ed said.

"I missed you too, Ed," the old woman replied, patting him on the back. Her head suddenly swiveled to me. "Who's that hovering by the doorway? I don't bite, you know."

I stepped into the room hesitantly, and the old woman motioned that I should join Ed by her bedside. I stood next to my friend and smiled down at Granny. "Hi, I'm Leoma."

"You're the one who lost the arm?" I nodded. "Don't worry. You're in good hands. My granddaughter makes the best automail in the country!"

I smiled again, although a bead of sweat was running down my temple. _Surgery, _I thought. _I almost forgot…_

The old woman gave me a penetrating stare, and then pointed at a book lying on the bedside table. "Winry's sleeping, and I think you need something to do, to distract yourself. Read to me."

"Um… okay." Gingerly, I picked up the book and opened it to the dog-eared page. My heart dropped at the sight of all the ridiculously long words. An orphanage education wasn't that great, and although I didn't like to think of myself as stupid, I'd be the first to admit that most of the words on the page were ones that were beyond my vocabulary. And the print was _tiny._

I cleared my throat and started to read, noticing that Ed the traitor had mysteriously vanished and left me to my doom. _Granny's trying to distract you, _I told myself. _It's working, too. What the hell is this book even about?_

Granny may have looked as though she was asleep, but she was an attentive listener. Every time I stumbled over a word, she glared at me until I got it right. It was nerve-wracking, to say the least, and by the time darkness fell I was drenched in sweat and reading the book mechanically. I still didn't know what the book was about, and I was afraid if I got too involved in the book I'd start making mistakes again and Granny would murder me. It was a perfect distraction; by the time Ed, bearing Granny's dinner and asking to bring me to mine, I was in a boring literature-induced stupor.

Ed and I walked down to the kitchen. I was still staring straight ahead, mouthing the word 'exsanguinating' because I thought it sounded cool, when Ed asked me to set the table. "Sure," I said, picking up a couple of plates. As I was about to set them down, my eye caught a screw lying on its side on the table. Quite an innocuous sight, but my stomach suddenly felt as though it were made of lead. My hands trembled and I dropped the plates. They smashed onto the floor in a musical cacophony. I stared at the broken plates for a minute, my bottom lip trembling. Then I burst into tears.

"I BROKE THE PLATES!" I wailed, on my knees instantly, trying to rearrange the broken pieces. "WINRY'S GONNA KILL ME!"

"Winry isn't going to kill you, Leoma," Ed said. "They're just plates."

"NO!" I sobbed. "I'VE RUINED EVERYTHING!"

"_Leoma_." I turned unwillingly to look at Ed, one tear still wobbling on my lower lid. Ed took my free hand and pulled me to my feet. "You're going to be fine. I know you're scared, but you're going to be fine. I promise." He drew me into a hug and stroked the back of my head, a gesture that was oddly soothing. I sighed and relaxed against his warm, familiar frame.

"I bet you didn't cry," I whispered into his shirt.

"I did, actually," he said. "It's terrifying; the idea of having the most painful surgery on the planet. But I know you're strong enough." He set me down on a chair. "Eat."

"Salad?"

"It's good for you! Plus, no milk, as you can see."

"I'm not hungry," I whispered. Something touched the back of my neck, and I froze.

"You're really scared," Wrath said. In truth, I hadn't even noticed him in the room, and I made a tiny sound in the back of my throat, surprised.

"Yes…" I said suspiciously.

"Then I'll put you to sleep, so you don't have to worry." I felt him jab me in the back of the head, and suddenly I lost all control over my body. Lazily I could feel myself losing consciousness…

I awoke with a gasp, my hand immediately flying to the back of my head. I realized that I was lying in bed, a tube of fluids extending from my arm. Winry was bustling over me, preparing a set of gleaming metal instruments. Bile rose in my throat, but I shoved it back down. The automail engineer turned to me and smiled.

"You're awake!" She said. "I'm sorry about Wrath; evidently he knows the right place to hit someone to knock them out. He thought he was doing you a favor… Anyway, it's time. You ready?"

"I suppose," I said. There was a knock on the door, and Ed poked his head through the space.

"Hey," he said. "Are you starting?"

"Yeah," Winry said. "Go, wish her good luck, and then get the hell out." Ed immediately entered the room, and I was surprised to see Wrath right behind him. I frowned at the little homunculus, although there wasn't much heart in it.

"You could have asked me if I wanted to be unconscious, you know."

"It doesn't work as well when you know about it," Wrath said. "Besides, I saved you from a couple of hours of pointless worrying."

"You're right," I sighed. "Thanks." I looked up at Ed, who had reached my bedside, and extended my arm for a hug. We embraced for a moment, and then Ed released me. Wrath sidled up to the bedside.

"That gown thing really flatters you, you know," he said. I looked down and realized that Winry had dressed me in some sort of hospital gown. _Damn, _I thought. _How I loathe these ridiculous paper gowns. And I don't look good in this one at all… Oh, very funny, Wrath._

I glared. "Hysterical. Leave."

Wrath nodded. "Good luck, annoying Leoma human," he said, and walked quickly out of the room. Ed paused to ruffle my hair, and then he, too, was gone.

I took a deep breath and looked at Winry. To my surprise, she was holding what appeared to be a ridiculously oversized needle in her hand, and appeared to be extending it in my general direction. I paled. "Oh, no," I said, sweat trickling down my forehead. "I do not like needles."

"Too bad," Winry said, stepping forward. Before I could react, she had me pinned to the bed by the base of my throat. I tried to wriggle free, but she aimed the needle and plunged it into my shoulder.

"Owww…" I moaned, rubbing the spot complainingly. "What was that for?"

"Your anesthetics," Winry replied, placing down the syringe and picking up a long pin. "They should be kicking in right about… now."

"Ohhh!" I gasped, the feeling in my shoulder draining away entirely. Gingerly, I reached out and touched my arm stump. Usually such probing was accompanied by a flash of pain, but now all I felt was rubbery skin under my fingertips. "Weird…."

"Quit touching," Winry snapped, setting the pin against my shoulder. Slowly, she pressed down, and although I could see the pin sliding into my skin and the blood beading up around it, I couldn't feel a thing. "Do you feel that?"

"No," I said. "You have good anesthetics." Winry smiled, withdrawing the pin.

"The best," she said, laying it down and picking up what looked disturbingly like a drill and a very large knife, as well as some black cloth. She walked to my bed and casually snatched my head, tying the strip of black cloth around my eyes.

"Hey!" I complained, trying to pull it off, but Winry pressed me back into the bed and attached what felt to be a strap around my torso, pinning me down. "What are you doing?" I asked slowly, feeling her strapping down the rest of me and not liking it.

"Keeping you from looking or moving," Winry said. "The surgery is hard enough as it is without you goggling at me."

"Fine," I growled. "Are you going to tell me what you're doing?"

"Sure," Winry said. An electric whine filled the air. "That's the drill," Winry explained. "I'm going to drill a hole in the bone of your shoulder and put in the nerve braid. That takes a bit of time, so sit tight and try not to think about anything."

"Okay…" I said, and relaxed against the bed. There was suddenly pressure on my arm stump, but no pain, and I tried not to think about Winry drilling away. I thought I felt a drop of moisture on my cheek, and prayed to God my blood wasn't splattered all over Winry, but with my luck it probably was. After a short time, the pressure and sound of the drill stopped. "I'm just going to hollow out a small bit of your bone, to allow for the nerve braid," Winry said. "I'm using a scalpel for this, in case you were wondering."

"Thanks," I whispered, desperately trying to quell the nausea rising in my throat. For a while, there was silence, although I thought if I listened carefully I could hear the sound of Winry chipping. The idea was so disturbing I promptly tuned her out and focused on what I would do when I could finally use both of my arms again. _First I'm going to do a cartwheel. Then I'm going to try on a couple of long-sleeved shirts. Then I'm going to make sure to punch Envy in the face with my automail arm, because he's annoying. Then I'm going to use a fork and knife at the same time, one in each hand. Then I'm going to…_

"The nerve braid's in," Winry announced, sounding strained but satisfied. "Okay," she said. "Next is the base for the arm. I'm going to first attach the base and the nerve braid, and then I'm going to screw the base into your bone. Don't think about it and it'll be over before you know it." Following her advice, I cast my thoughts to Sheska, who was hopefully learning about the chimeras in a way that would prevent her from getting murdered. _Take care, Sheska, _I thought to myself. _You've been a good friend, from the little time I've known you. Don't get hurt._

The electric whine of the drill broke me out of my thoughts. Evidently Winry had started to drill in the base of my new arm. I waited with bated breath; fairly positive I could smell smoke but too scared to ask Winry if that was normal. After I was sure Winry had drilled clear through my torso, the strip around my eyes was suddenly pulled away. I blinked at the light and squinted, automatically turning my head to my arm. In the place of skin at the end of my arm stump was a neat little metal plate with a tiny spike that probably attached it to the arm. I stared for a few minutes, and then took in the sight of the flecks of blood spattered in various places around the room. Winry was sitting in a chair next to me, a metal arm in her lap. My breath caught in my throat. "Is that… mine?" Winry nodded, exhausted. I stared at the metal limb in its shining perfection and knew that I wanted it, even if getting it would hurt like hell. "It's beautiful, Winry," I said softly. "Thank you."

Winry smiled. "Are you ready to make it a part of you?" My whole body was rigid with instant fear, but I managed to nod. Winry nodded in return and picked up the automail arm, placing it next to the metal base in my shoulder. "I'm going to plug it in on three," Winry said, and then touched my shoulder and looked me in the eyes. "Good luck, Leoma," she said. "It'll hurt for a long time after this, and this is probably the last time in a while you'll be coherent, so is there anything you want to tell me?"

"One thing," I said. "Talk to Wrath; tell him I told you to ask him about our new enemy. He'll know."

Winry frowned, and then laughed. "That's cryptic."

I laughed too, although it was strained. "I'd tell you now, but it's a long story and I just want to get this over with."

"Right," Winry said. "On three." I tensed, and balled my hands into fists. "One." I needed to concentrate on something; anything to keep the pain from driving me over the edge. Looking out the window at the stars would be good. "Two." My eyes found the window, and I blinked. There was an ugly bird sitting on the sill, beady eyes fixed on me. Those eyes reminded me of someone I knew… _Oh God, Envy, what are you doing here? _"Three." Winry pushed the automail arm into the base and my world transformed into the worst possible hell I could imagine.

I was a creature of pain. Every cell of my body burned with a passion, especially those in my shoulder. There was no room in my mind for coherent thought; only for a kind of mental scream. I was probably screaming myself hoarse, too, but the pain blocked all my senses, blocked everything from me until I was nothing but pain. And then even that went away, until I was nothing at all. And, considering the alternative, being nothing was much, much better, at least until I woke up again…


	13. Pain

_I was on fire. The Flame Alchemist stood above me, watching me serenely as I burned. "Do something!" I begged, but he only smiled and turned, leaving me to my fiery torture. I writhed and contorted, but the flames wouldn't stop, and finally I burned into oblivion…_

_ The little black hands from the Gate held me firmly in front of Truth. He laughed when he saw me. "You deserve this," he said. "You deserve everything you get." The tiny hands began to bore inside me in a thousand places, and though I screamed and struggled, they continued, until finally they'd made it to my heart and I went limp… _

_ There were… _things _gnawing on me. I couldn't see them, but I felt their little teeth and I heard their bone-dry chattering voices. I couldn't move; only lay and wait while they finished me. When I thought it was finally over and that I'd fall back into the in-between state of nothingness, a giant cat with luminous eyes stood over me, mewling daintily. Jay was on its back, and he smiled at me as the cat lowered its fangs and tore off one of my arms. The little gnawing things ran to the blood and lapped it up, morphing from tiny creatures into monstrous things as big as Jay's cat. One of them lowered a tongue shaped like a knife and stabbed me in the heart, and I finally went back into the blackness…_

My eyelids fluttered, and the pain hit me before they were even fully open. I bit my tongue and did my best not to scream. It wasn't as bad as the initial pain, but it hurt more than anything I'd ever felt. Tears ran down my face, and I drove my fingernails into my palm to try and keep the pain at bay. It wasn't working.

"Aaah," I moaned softly, opening my eyes and taking in the fact that I was in the surgery room, a rack of fluids in my arm. It was night, but it appeared as though I still had a visitor, sitting curled up underneath my window. His head popped up when he heard my voice, and his violet eyes glowed in the dark.

"Hey," Envy said. "You're awake. It's about time." He walked to my bedside and smirked down at me, but I was in no mood to be teased tonight.

"Explain," I gasped; the one word burning me. Even as I did say it, a tiny scream escaped my lips and I contorted in the bed, my now bloodied fingers clawing at the sheets in an effort to hold onto something. Envy's face blurred, and I felt myself slipping back into unconsciousness, despite my best efforts to hold on…

The second time I woke up was pretty much just the same, although I felt ready for the pain now. It was still night, but I had a feeling that it wasn't the same night as it had been before. Envy was still sitting by my window, looking almost anxious. I took the moment to examine the face of the homunculus when his features were unguarded. The eyes that were usually cold were nervous now, almost as if he were worried about someone. A sudden spasm of pain made me bite my tongue hard enough to taste blood, but I didn't make a sound. I wanted to stare at Envy when he thought no one was watching, and if I made a sound he'd probably look up.

He was sitting with his arms locked around his knees, a childish, out of character posture. His green hair was waving in its usual spiked strands, and he had a small, worried pout on his face. He sighed and rested his head on his hand, and I felt a strange urge to go to him and comfort him; to tell him that everything would be okay, whatever it was he was worrying about.

I shifted slightly on the bed, and a wave of pain attacked my body. I gasped and fell back against the pillows, sweating and trembling. My eyes were gaping, tears of pain pooling up in them and trickling down my cheeks. "Leoma?" I heard Envy gasp, and then he was by my side.

"Explain," I gasped, just as I had before. "Why are you here?" Another spasm traveled through my body, and a shriek tore itself from my lips. Envy was staring down at me in evident horror. He sat down on the bed next to me and smoothed the sweaty hair out of my face absentmindedly. I suddenly got the feeling that he'd done it before, and felt strangely happy for an instant before another wave of pain hit and I contorted on the bed in pure agony.

"Stupid little human," Envy said, although his tone was gentle and I had a feeling he wasn't trying to insult me. "Why do you always get yourself in bad situations? I don't know how to make you stop crying… Is there something that would make you feel better?"

"_Explain,_" I hissed through clenched teeth, eyes closed and shuddering. Every breath was torture; it was as though there was an animal inside me, clawing away at the inside of my chest whenever I took a breath. Envy sighed, and suddenly I felt a fingertip on my cheek. My heart froze, and the fingertip slowly traveled to one of the teardrops coursing down my face. Envy flicked it off my cheek absently, and then went to work on the others trickling down my face.

"You're in danger," he said. "Inferna sent Greed after you. She wants him to bring you back to her. He doesn't know where you are yet, but he'll find you eventually. She really wants to meet you, but she doesn't think I can get you, on account of my recent failures." He grimaced. One of his fingers brushed lightly across my lips, collecting blood from my bleeding tongue. He brought his finger to his mouth and licked delicately. "Mmm," he said happily, smiling down at me. "I love human blood. Can't tell you why, but I do."

"You came here… to warn me?"

"Yes. Isn't that what I just said?" I wanted to reply with something cutting, but then there was a flash of sharp pain from my shoulder, and before I knew what I was doing my hand was clutching Envy's as tightly as if it were a lifeline and I were being tossed in an ocean of pure torture. He lifted it up to where we could both see. "Hand holding? And we only just met."

I ignored the sarcasm as another wrack of pain made me squeeze Envy's hand so hard my fingernails broke through his skin. He stared down at his bloody hand and sighed. "I was going to get you out of here," he said, "but I guess you won't be leaving. All this for automail. Have you even looked at it yet?"

Painfully, I lifted my head and stared at what used to be my arm stump. In its place was a shining metal limb nestled in the blankets. My breath caught in my throat, and I tentatively reached out to touch it with trembling fingers. At the slightest pressure from me, a twang of agony flashed from my shoulder and I fell back, shaking violently.

Envy sighed again. "I can't leave you here alone," he said, "but I can't take you with me, and I have to get back before Inferna gets suspicious." He looked down at me. "All this trouble for a human," he said aloud. "I don't even _like _humans. What's happening to me?" His violet eyes were troubled.

"Envy…" I managed. "Go. I'll be fine. With Ed, Winry and Wrath here to protect me, how could I be anything but?"

"Wrath," Envy said. "Inferna wants him, too. Perhaps on the way out I can…"

"No!" I gasped, struggling to a position where I was sitting up. It hurt a lot more than I'd been expecting, but I managed to grab Envy by the collar on the way back down. "Don't touch him!" I shrieked, panting. To my horror, a trickle of blood was coming from the corner of my mouth. _Damn surgery symptoms. _

"Alright! Stop, Leoma!" Gently, he pulled my arms from his collar and pressed me back against the sheets, pushing off me and back into a sitting position. "Don't exert yourself."

"Leave him alone," I said, warningly, although in my current position I wasn't really threatening. I still only had one working arm, as when I tried to move the automail one all I felt was intense pain. Evidently movement would come with practice.

"I promise," Envy said softly, and I smiled in relief.

"Good," I murmured. "Now get back to Inferna… you wouldn't want to keep her waiting, whoever the hell she is."

"Are you sure?" Envy asked, clearly still worried. _It's not because he likes me, though. He doesn't want a good ally to snuff it. A homunculus like him would never like someone like me…_

I smiled widely in response. "I'm sure," I said, opened my mouth, and screamed as loud as I could.

Envy's head snapped up, and he grinned fleetingly at the sound of running feet. "Nice," he said appreciatively, and darted to the window. He paused, though, before leaping out. "Be careful," he muttered. "And don't remember any of this." He sounded almost as if he were embarrassed about saying it. Then his body shrank until he was the ugly bird I'd first seen on the sill. He leapt from the room and soared away, purplish feathers rippling in the breeze.

The door to my room burst open, Ed, Wrath and Winry all falling over themselves to be the first in the room. Winry grasped Wrath and Ed's heads and shoved them backwards, gaining entry into the room first. She gaped at me upon seeing that I was fully awake. "Leoma! You weren't supposed to really wake up for another few days, at least!"

I shrugged and yelped as the movement triggered the pain. "What can I say? I never do the things I'm supposed to." I sighed at the fuzzy blackness gathering in the corners of my eyes. "I think I'm going to black out."

"Alright," Winry said, and shrieked as Wrath and Ed shoved her aside.

"You woke up before I did!" Ed complained. "Actually, you woke up before anyone's supposed to. You did it in a week. What the hell's wrong with you?"

"Ed!" Winry exclaimed.

"What?" Ed said defensively. "I was only asking…"

"I think," I said, "That it has something to do with my weird shape-shifting thing… I heal fast." A sudden spasm of pain washed over me, and for the first time that night I screamed a _real _scream and arched my back, instantly silencing everyone. Winry was at my side in an instant, adeptly putting the back of her hand to my forehead.

"No fever," she announced to Ed and Wrath. "Leoma, honey? Are you conscious?"

_Yes, _I wanted to tell them, but my tongue felt like honey. The best I could manage was a sort of mumbled sigh, and then my eyelids snapped shut and the pain took hold of me once again and dragged me under…

The next time I woke up wasn't quite as bad, but it still sucked. Immediately upon my entrance into the world of the conscious, a wave of pain rolled over me. It wasn't enough to induce a scream, but I did yelp and bite my lip. Once again I bit it hard enough to taste blood, and wondered if I was going to have to get an automail lip when I finished recovering, because this one wasn't faring very well.

I opened my eyes to discover Ed asleep in a chair next to my bed. It was morning, and bright sunlight streamed through the window, throwing patterns on my still form. Experimentally, I wiggled one of my legs and immediately drew it back with a gasp. I may have felt slightly better than last time, but excessive movement was still a no-no.

"Leoma…?" Ed said sleepily, opening his golden eyes and treating me with a scorching gaze. I sighed. Why did people from Amestris, especially boys, have such attractive eyes? _Ed and Alphonse have those beautiful golden eyes, Jay has really cool blue ones, and of course Envy has those smoking violet… whoa, whoa, whoa. Envy's eyes are not smoking. Where did that even come from?_

I realized now that Envy had seemed really out of character earlier. Perhaps he was worried that if he yelled at me or even spoke in his usual sarcastic way I would die? That was probably it. It definitely didn't have to do with him caring about me, though. I remembered the remorseless way he attacked me the first time I'd met him, and shuddered. _No, he doesn't like you at all, and you most certainly don't like him, either. _

And what had he said about hoping I wouldn't remember anything? Why would he hope that? I thought that maybe I'd seen a softer side of the teen. I'd no idea what had triggered him to be genuinely nice to me, but he probably didn't want word around that he could be nice, when he had to be.

"Hey," I said weakly, bringing myself to the present by talking to Ed. "How long have I been out?"

"You slept all of yesterday, so… a day?"

"Stupid surgery," I muttered, hissing as the pain took hold. The sad thing was, I was starting to get used to it. "Although it gave me this pretty new arm, so…"

"Wrath told us about the woman he saw," Ed said. "At least now we know who we're up against. I wonder if we should go to the Underground City."

"I doubt it," I said immediately. "If this person can kill Gluttony so easily, we're not a match for her. Not yet, anyway. We need to know more…" I sighed and leaned back, closing my eyes. "Why am I so tired? I don't think that's normal."

"For automail surgery? Please. You should be exhausted. If you're going to fall asleep, go right ahead. I'm not going to stop you. Winry says that according to the rate at which you woke up, you should be up in another week. Now that's _really _not normal…" He trailed off when he realized that I wasn't listening to him anymore.

"Good night, Leoma," he said softly, and my eyes snapped shut. I groaned internally. _I only just woke up! And it isn't even night, damn it! Grrr… I hate this. _

I woke up and fell asleep periodically over the next couple of days. Despite the fact that the pain was slowly but surely ebbing away, I usually only stayed awake long enough for Winry or Ed to get some food into me before I drifted off again. It was annoying, to say the least, and I dreamed constantly about running through fields, moving, and using both of my arms. I also dreamed a lot about torching hospital beds and gowns. Evidently my subconscious was a little weird…

I awoke with a gasp. I'd been having one of my usual running-through-field dreams and Envy had popped into the picture, running with me. _I dream about Envy way too much, _I thought, rubbing my head ruefully. _I never used to dream like this before I came to Amestris. Why did it start now? It makes looking at Envy really awkward…_

I sat up and noticed almost immediately that my muscles were humming with a quiet energy, and the pain was gone. I realized that I wasn't going to be falling back asleep tonight. No, I was finally ready to stay awake and function like a normal person again. Confidently, I swung my legs over the side of the bed and hopped.

In a flash, I was on the floor, waves of sick pain crawling up my body. "Oh, there you are," I gasped ruefully. "I was wondering where you'd gone off to."

"Talking to oneself: the first sign of madness." I looked up to find Wrath in the chair Ed or Winry usually slept in. After the first time I'd woken up, they'd stayed with me every night. This was the first time Wrath had watched over me, though.

"Hey," I said, allowing him to pull me to my feet with my flesh-and-blood hand. "Why're you here?"

Wrath shrugged and helped me into a sitting position on the edge of my bed. "I don't sleep," he reminded me. "Why should Ed and Winry sleep in a chair when I'm not even going to sleep anyway? Besides, you talk in your sleep. It's funny. Although, there is one thing… Why do you say Envy's name so much?" His violet eyes narrowed fractionally.

"Oh, isn't it obvious? I'm secretly in love with him," I said sarcastically, adding a snort for emphasis. Inside, though, I was shaking. I talked about Envy in my sleep? That was pretty much the epitome of the phrase 'not good.'

Wrath rolled his eyes. "Secretly in love with Envy? That'll be the day. Imagine. Who could ever fall in love with a weirdo like him?"

"Oh, I don't know," a voice said, from behind me. "I might, if women weren't my thing. He's not bad looking." I froze, and slowly turned around to face the open window. Standing next to it was a man with dark glossy hair in a neat ponytail. He smiled at me, revealing pointy teeth. He had red, remorseless eyes, and was wearing a white suit. "Hey," the man said. "The name's Greed. You may have heard of me."

"I have, unfortunately," I said. "What do you want?"

"To kidnap you," Greed said. "My mistress is quite interested in meeting you."

I sighed, annoyed. "Now is really not the time. Could you come back in a few days, when I've healed sufficiently to take you on?"

"No," said Greed. "This is the perfect time to take you. You're too weak to fight, but strong enough to stay alive if I get a little rough." His eyes widened suddenly, his pale face getting paler. He went rigid and stumbled forwards, falling onto his knees.

"Now you've stabbed Greed in the back figuratively and literally, Wrath," I said, giving the homunculus and the blade he'd transmuted his automail into a nod of approval. "Nice."

"Wrath?" Greed asked, getting up on one knee and deftly twisting to snatch Wrath's automail with a hand suddenly clawed and black. The metal blade didn't sink into Greed's flesh like I'd supposed it would; instead scraping up against the surface roughly, as though it couldn't go farther. _That must be Greed's armor, _I thought. _Ed mentioned that. Of course, I never thought I'd have to fight Greed, so I never asked if there was anything that could defeat it… Typical me._

Wrath's eyes widened at the sight of Greed's face. "Aren't you Kimblee?" He asked. "The Red Lotus Alchemist?"

"Was," Greed corrected lazily, caressing his own face lovingly. "I'm Greed now. I'm like the better version of Kimblee." His eyes glowed with a maniac light, and his tongue flicked across his teeth. "I don't die, I have armor, and most importantly, I'm not crazy. Just greedy. I have Kimblee's strengths, but not his weaknesses. Understand?" He rubbed the back of his hand absentmindedly, and I spied the red serpent of the Ouroboros emblazoned there. I scowled at it. Al had drawn me a picture of the Ouroboros once, but it was a lot creepier in the flesh. Neither Wrath nor Envy had shown me theirs, after all, and the first time seeing it was a bit of a shock.

"You're not taking Leoma," Wrath said, and I blinked at the warmth blossoming in my belly. _Guess Wrath doesn't dislike me as much as he pretends._

Greed smirked. "Next you're going to be saying that I'm not taking you, either." His smile widened. "But my mistress wants you as well. So I am." He twisted Wrath's blade easily, black claw clenching and unclenching and turning the sword into a useless hunk of metal. Wrath hissed and backed away, changing his automail back into a hand. Greed shook his head.

"No alchemy for you," he said, lunging forward and slashing at Wrath with his armored hand. Wrath backed away with every swing until his back was to the window. He seemed to be working something out in his head, but Greed didn't give him the chance to finish the thought. He snatched Wrath's automail and deftly ripped the metal hand off the arm, leaving Wrath with a gaping hole dripping circuitry and metal chunks.

"My mistress told me that there's a way to screw up my armor with alchemy," Greed said. "So I took away the option, as I was pretty sure that was what you were planning to do. Now, come quietly, please, both of you. There's no need to fight me; you might damage yourselves."

"Bastard," I cursed, starting forward. As soon as my weight left the bed, though, a shockwave of pain took over my body, and I fell to the ground, writhing in pure agony. Greed sauntered over to me and pulled me up by the hair. I screamed, not because of the pain so much, but because I hoped that Winry and Ed might hear it. Greed clapped a hand over my mouth and froze, rigid and listening hard. At the sound of a door opening, Greed hissed in annoyance and roughly tossed me over his shoulder. "Typical human," he said. "Do you guys like screwing things up for homunculi, or do you do it by accident?"

"Accident, I think," I said weakly, sweat trickling down my trembling body. Greed held my legs firmly, one of his fingers caressing my calf absentmindedly.

"I hate fighting women," he complained. "It feels wrong." He glanced at Wrath, who was still standing by the open window through which Greed had presumably made his entrance. "Come on," he said, walking forward and snatching the little homunculus' forearm. All three of us could hear the sound of pounding feet now. Greed rolled his eyes and his armored hand suddenly stabbed Wrath through the forehead. The homunculus' eyes rolled up to look at the hole in his head, and then he collapsed in a rapidly forming pool of blood. I screamed and reached out futilely with my hand, but Greed slapped it down.

"Oh, he'll be fine," Greed said, impatiently picking up Wrath's still form and hopping out the window. Remarkably, he easily landed on his feet and skipped lightly behind a tree, smirking at the light flickering on in my bedroom. "He hasn't had a Red Stone in a while, so he'll stay out until somebody gives him one. But this won't kill him."

He narrowed his eyes at me. "As for you… Well, this shouldn't hurt you permanently." He smacked me on the side of the head, hard, and as my vision blurred, my last thought before I blacked out completely was, _I have been falling asleep and waking up _way _too much in the past few days. You're gonna regret this, Greed…_

I woke up in a rage.

My head ached, first of all. That was it for pain, but I had a feeling that the rest of the pain lurked just below the surface, waiting for me to try and stand up or move too much. I had a feeling I was going to have a large and unsightly lump where Greed had hit me and that added to my fury.

For another thing, I had been tied up with a belt. I realized this as I lifted up my wrists and viewed the belt tying them together. When I spotted the belt restraining my ankles as well, it took everything I had in me to keep my head from exploding. _Belts? _I mentally raged. _No rope for Leoma; she's not good enough for it. No, two belts will be just fine!_

When I realized that I was in a train car, I was officially murderously enraged. I was a recovering patient! I should still be in bed, not_ riding places on a train! _I took three deep breaths and viewed the car again; looking for anything that could be helpful in the escape I was definitely going to plan. The car was devoid of life, but filled with packages of various sizes. At either end of the car was a door, both probably locked, not that I could get to them, restrained as I was. The windows lining the walls were slightly bigger than my head, and the glass looked to be a foot thick. Escape was going to be a bit tricky.

Something caught my eye, and I shrieked. Wrath lay slumped against the wall, blood still trickling from the wound in his forehead. His eyes were closed and I was terrified that he was dead, but I remembered what Greed had said about him staying unconscious until somebody gave him a Red Stone, and quelled the fear rising in my heart.

I heard the unmistakable sound of a door unlocking, and turned to give the opening door a look of death. Greed stepped into the car, white suit bloodstained. He smiled when he saw me. "You're awake!"

"No thanks to you, you kidnapping, evil, no-good son of a bitch."

Greed stopped short, holding up his hands. "You wound me!" He chuckled. "Please. I wouldn't be doing this if I didn't have to. Do you think I like to injure pretty girls like you?"

I gasped, all the color draining from my face. "Are you _hitting on me_?"

Greed shrugged. "Not really," he said. "But I don't get to interact with women who aren't homunculi or my mistress very much, and I can't help but have a little fun, can I?"

"I would say that you _can_ help it," I muttered. "You just don't try."

"I guess you're right," Greed admitted, sitting down next to me. "That's annoying, being bested by a human."

"You have a problem with humans?"

Greed shrugged again. "I don't have anything against humans. But clearly, they're inferior."

"This is coming from the person that used to be human," I snapped. "Hypocrite much?"

"_Used _to be human," Greed said. "And what happened to the human I used to be? He got murdered by an Ishbalan. He wasn't strong enough. But I am."

I yawned. "Fascinating stuff, really. I am completely absorbed with hearing about who you used to be. I cannot think of a single other way I'd rather be spending my time."

Greed scowled at me, and then reclined against his hands, his face morphing into an expression of boredom. "You shouldn't talk to the person who kidnapped you like that. That's what they call stupid bravery, and it never gets the hero anywhere."

"So you admit that I'm the hero here?"

Greed laughed. "Well, I'm certainly not," he said. His eyes glowed again, and he licked his perfect teeth. "Look at me," he said, voice low. "I'm a monster. I'm Greed. I want it all." He gave me a scorching glare. "Especially you, right now. There aren't any women on this train, and I'm very bored."

Surreptitiously, I began to scoot backwards, to get as far away from Greed as possible, and he laughed abruptly, the strange light in his eyes extinguished. "I'm only joking," he said. "I don't want you that much, and even if I did, my mistress specifically ordered me not to hurt you in any way." He sighed dramatically. "Being a homunculus is no fun when you can't get any women."

"Quit complaining," I snarled. "Being a human is no fun when you're tied up, with _belts, _I might add, and being carted to your own demise."

"Touché," Greed said. He sighed at the blood on his suit and picked at it idly. "Another suit, ruined," he said. "You know things are bad when you have to ask Envy for clothes." He grinned at me, and I snorted in response; not wanting to get chummy, but having to admit that it was funny.

A horrible thought struck me, and I frowned at Greed. "Is that blood…?"

"Human? Nope," Greed said. "It's Wrath's. That little ass bled all over me. He's _still _bleeding."

I blinked; an inkling of an idea had entered my mind; something that might be able to get both Wrath and myself out of this one. "You do have something to heal him, right? What did you call it again? A red..?"

"A Red Stone," Greed said. He winked at me and reached into his pocket, producing one of the Stones. I did my best not to jump for joy; that idiot Greed had showed me where he kept his Stones! And, to top it off, I'd led him to believe that I didn't know what they were or how they worked. This could turn out to be useful.

Greed dropped the Stone back in his pocket and sighed, getting to his feet and stretching luxuriously. "I'd love to stay and chat," he said, "But I threatened I'd kill the driver of this train earlier, and I don't want him getting any independent notions."

"What about the passengers? If I scream, then what?" I asked.

Greed shook his head. "There aren't any passengers," he explained. "This is a cargo train. This one's carrying packages and stuff to Central. I thought it would be a bad idea to bring you two on a train with humans. The only other person here is the engineer. Scream as much as you want." He nodded at me, and strode out of the car. The door swung shut behind him, and I heard it lock.

I lay back against the hard wooden floor, feeling the motion of the train beneath me. If our destination was Central, I only had a few hours to make my grand escape before we made it to the city and Greed took me to meet Inferna. I shuddered. Whoever she was, she really wanted to meet me, and although I wanted to know why I wasn't quite ready to risk my life for it.

I closed my eyes. The pain was gone, at least until I tried moving again. That would prove to be helpful, no doubt, because I was going to need to be able to move. For what I was going to do, I would have to be able to hold out against the pain long enough to get what I needed.

In short, I had a plan, and I had to be ready.


	14. Escape

I needed a Red Stone.

There was no way in hell I was going to escape without Wrath, but there was no way in hell I was going to be able to escape while dragging an unconscious Wrath behind me. No, I was going to have to get a Red Stone to wake up the little homunculus, and I knew exactly how I was going to do it.

I doubted that Greed was going to be gone for long. He seemed to be enjoying just sitting and talking with me, for some strange reason. As soon as he knew that the engineer hadn't made a run for it, he was going to come back to gloat some more. I had to be ready for his arrival.

My wings popped out of my back, and I winced in anticipation of the pain. To my surprise, there was only a slight twinge from my back, and then nothing. Evidently I was healing; faster than a normal person to boot. That was good, because if my plan was going to work, I was going to have to attack Greed multiple times, and it wasn't going to work if I fell over every five minutes in pain.

Quickly, I slit the bonds with my claws and got to my feet, trembling a little. I leaned against a pile of crates for support, but I had done it: I was up and not in too much pain. Of course, three seconds later I was on the floor, taking deep breaths through my nose and doing my best not to scream. But I had done it. Now I just had to do it again.

Shakily, I got to my feet and staggered to another pile of crates. Quickly, I slid onto the pile and flattened myself against the wood, one tear of exertion trickling from my eye. My wings fluttered daintily, ragged purple edges rippling. _I'm ready for you, Greed, _I thought, eyes slits. _Come on. I don't really want to wait._

I froze. I could hear the door unlocking, and I was rigid, ready for action. I already knew I was going to lose this battle; winning wasn't the point. The point was stealing a Red Stone, and I was an expert pickpocket. A few years of living on the streets can transform _anyone _into an expert pickpocket.

Greed stepped into the room, the easygoing smile on his face clouding when he noticed the cut bonds on the ground and my obvious absence. "I know you're in here, Leoma" he called softly. "Don't try to hide from me. You'll regret it."

I stayed silent. He was a few paces from me; if he walked forward to or three steps he would be in the perfect position for me to attack him. _Come on, _I begged silently. _Three more steps._

Greed took a step. "You're making a mistake, little girl," he said, and I bristled. _Don't call me 'little girl.' _"Come out now, and I promise not to hurt you too much." I almost laughed. _Yeah, right._

Greed waited, and when I didn't reveal myself, he started forward angrily. "Come here!" He snapped.

He stepped into range. "Certainly," I said, and lunged.

He hadn't been expecting a direct attack, that much was certain. He crumpled under me like paper, and we crashed to the floor. Even as we were falling, my hand dipped into his pocket and grasped something small and crystalline. I couldn't know if it was a Red Stone, but I had to hope it was, because Greed had started to stir under my weight, one clawed hand reaching for my throat.

The fight didn't really matter anymore. I'd gotten what I wanted. But did that stop me from opening my mouth and scorching Greed with as much flame as I could muster? Absolutely not. I had to admit I was vindictively happy, seeing him writhe underneath the blistering heat coming from in between my teeth.

I heard a raspy moan, and Greed slapped me across the face. I gave a sputtering cough, and then the flame died. Greed's scorched neck stump swayed, his head already beginning to reform. I bared my canines and grabbed Greed by the throat, shaking him mercilessly. Blood spurted from between my jaws, and I felt a primal urge to keep on shaking Greed until he went still.

But even as his blood trickled down my own neck, a flash of pain took over my body. I held out as long as I could, but then my jaws were forced open so that a bottled-up scream could force its way out. I fell back to the train floor, making sure to keep my hand tightly closed. The thing in my hand bit into my palm, and I felt a tiny prick of pain added to the rest of it. "This sucks," I moaned out loud, shaking violently.

Greed had gotten to his knees and was now looming over me. "Trust me," he hissed; eyes narrowed and furious. "It's about to get a lot worse."

He grabbed me by the hair and pulled my head up from the floor. "I told you not to try anything, you idiot," he snarled, dropping my head back down with a sickening crack.

"Owww," I moaned, but I didn't cry. I wasn't going to cry in front of Greed. The homunculus released me for a moment, and painfully I looked up to see him tearing off long strips of rope that bound some of the crates together. He returned to my side and flipped me over roughly, quickly re-binding my wrists and ankles and adding rope around my head to keep my jaws shut, and my wings. "Try escaping from that, you little bitch," he hissed, shoving me onto my face, hard. I heard him storm away, and the door slammed.

I didn't waste any time. Who knew how many Red Stones Greed had in his pocket? Sooner or later he'd realize I'd taken one, probably sooner with my luck. I took a deep breath and breathed steam out of my nose, scalding steam that was almost as bad as my fire. I went for the ropes around my wrists, ignoring the pain as my flesh was scorched. The ropes slowly began to fray, and I forced my wrists apart myself, ignoring the flash of hot pain from my shoulder.

I flopped to Wrath, not bothering untying the rest of me. The homunculus still rested against the train wall, blood still oozing from his ruptured forehead. Trying to ignore the fact that he looked incredibly dead, I shoved the Red Stone in my hand into his mouth. _Swallow, _I thought. _C'mon, Wrath. I need you._

For a second, there was nothing, and I resigned myself to having to meet with a woman who obviously wanted to kill me. Then, at the very second an agonized wail from Greed echoed throughout the train, Wrath's eyes snapped open, the wound on his forehead healing quickly. "Leoma?" He gasped, taking in the sight of a bloodied me lying on the train floor, mostly bound. "What's going on?"

"Greed's going to walk in the door in about two seconds," I said, busily unwinding the rope around my jaws. "When he comes in, we have to fight him. I'll keep him busy long enough for you to transmute us a way out of this train."

"Okay…" said Wrath, still looking confused. He got to his feet and pressed his palms against the train wall, just as Greed slammed open the train door.

When he saw the two of us, me just finishing untying myself, he gave a hiss of fury and lunged towards me, armor spreading over his body. I stumbled back and Greed slammed into me, knocking the both of us into a stack of crates. I shrieked as the crates tumbled down on us, shielding me from the enraged homunculus but also bruising me in a dozen places. I winced as one of the crates opened and its contents fell into my lap. There was actually only one thing in the box, a long sword that settled into my lap neatly as though it had been made to sit there.

_Heh. This wasn't a part of my plan, but… I am really getting lucky today!_

Greed suddenly swept aside the boxes that separated us. His armor covered his whole body now, and I realized that the sword I was clutching in sweaty hands wasn't going to do me much good. Greed cracked a smile at the sight of a bewildered me clutching the sword like a shield and looking terrified.

"I'm not supposed to hurt you," he said, "but I _want _to. I hope you understand."

"Just try it, you bastard," I said, waving the sword in front of me menacingly. "I'll slice you to ribbons."

"With what? That sword won't penetrate my armor."

"Then I won't use the sword, dumbass," I said, pointing at a spot behind Greed. "I'll use _that._"

Greed whipped around, and my jaw dropped. _He fell for that. He actually fell for that! Wow!_

By the time the homunculus turned back around, furious at the fact that there hadn't been anything behind him, I was halfway down the train car, waving and generally acting like an idiot. "C'mon, Greed the Avaricious. Let's fight."

"Avaricious? I didn't know such a big word was in your vocabulary. Orphans don't tend to know such things."

"Shut up about my orphanage education! Wait… I never told you that I was an orphan…"

Greed smiled, the armor from his face receding, revealing a wide smirk and glowing red eyes. "My mistress knew that the one she was looking for believed herself to be an orphan. Perhaps you really are that person. Thanks for giving me such useful information."

"Screw you!" It wasn't the best of comebacks, but I added a sting at the end of the sentence by tossing my sword at Greed's face. It stabbed clear through his head, and as he staggered, I darted up to him and pulled it out. Greed immediately covered the hole in his head with his armored hands, blood leaking through the claws.

"I… hate… you," he snarled, and I stepped back hurriedly.

"Leoma!" Wrath called, from the other side of the train car, and I looked to see that the homunculus had morphed himself into the wood of the train car. It appeared as though the train wall was suddenly pulling itself apart, but I knew better; Wrath, who was now a part of the train, was forcing the wall to create the hole. "Get over here!"

"Coming!" I yelped, trotting to him as fast as looked dignified. I heard Greed growling from behind us, and Greed's head healed and he started towards us. There was a horrific fury in his eyes, and I had a feeling all he wanted to do was fly at the both of us and rip out our throats. His dark eyes surveyed the situation for a moment, and then, to my surprise, he began to laugh.

"Oh, this is funny," he chuckled. "You, Wrath, have made a hole in the wall, but to get out of it, you'll have to transmute yourself from the wall, and then the hole will close before you can get through. And you won't go without him, will you, Leoma?"

Oh, crap, this was bad. Greed was right, of course; and on both counts: I wasn't going anywhere without Wrath. I sighed. "He's right;" I said, looking at Wrath. "You might as well come down from there."

Wrath took a deep breath. "I don't think so," he said. "Good luck, Leoma. I'll keep him busy."

"Wha- No, Wrath, no!" The train floor had morphed itself into a fist, and before I could leap out of its way the fist crashed into me, shoving me out of the hole in the wall. A long wooden splinter caught on my hospital gown, and as I twisted through the air I heard the sound of ripping. "Noo!" I wailed, smashing into the ground and scraping my suddenly bare back. My head snapped up and I stared as the wooden fist bearing my paper gown like a flag was borne away by the fast-moving train. Slowly, it receded into the belly of the train, and I figured that Wrath was engaging Greed so that the homunculus would have no time to go back for me.

A burst of pain took over my body, and I fell into the wet grass, trembling and shaking. A scream worked its way from between my teeth, and I curled into the fetal position, automail arm on my shoulder glinting with dew. I still had the sword hilt clutched in my hand, and the blade pressed lightly against my bare leg. The pain lasted for longer than usual, at least fifteen minutes, and then I opened my eyes and got to my knees.

I looked down at myself, and the pain faded into the background. "I'm screwed," I said calmly. "I am stranded in the middle of nowhere, with nothing but a sword and a healthy amount of pain accompanying me, and to top it off, _I'm frigging naked."_

I sighed and sat on the grass, secretly enjoying the cool tickle against my fevered skin. I peered around myself, sighing again at my surroundings. I was sitting next to the train tracks, in the middle of nowhere. Rolling green hills stretched off in all directions, marred only by a slight blip on the horizon that was probably Central. "How am I going to get there?" I muttered. "I could fly, but showing up at Central naked is going to give everybody the wrong idea… There's only one thing to do, I suppose. I'm going to have to change all the way."

I got to my feet, tentatively touching my new automail with my fingertips. It didn't hurt, and that made me feel all the worse about what I was going to do. If my automail didn't change with me when I changed, it would break, and all of Winry's hard work would be for nothing.

"Here goes nothing," I said, screwing my eyes shut.

Pain. It washed over me like a sick, sick wave, and I was unconscious before I knew what hit me.

Blearily, my eyes opened, and steam trickled out of my purple snout. I raised my sinuous neck and hissed half-heartedly, terrified to see what had happened to my leg. I stretched my wings and took a deep breath before jerking my head down.

"Holy crap…" I hissed. "Look at my automail now…" In place of the stump of my front left leg, a shining metal limb, complete with claws, was attached to my stump. "That settles it," I exclaimed. "This is definitely alchemy. Well, probably…"

Cautiously, I out some weight on the limb, and nearly passed out again. I rolled onto my back and keened, swishing my tail. The automail may have been transformed into automail that could serve as a dragon's front leg, but it still hurt like hell to use.

Slowly, I turned over again and reared onto my back legs, spreading my wings. I beat them furiously and jumped, flapping into the air and snatching up my sword with one of my back claws. I angled the wings to catch the air flow and soared, following the train tracks.

The world beneath me rolled past in a blur, and I snorted happily. I had escaped; I was free, and… Wrath was still stuck with Greed. I hadn't seen the train beneath me at all, and I figured that it had already made it to Central while I'd been unconscious. Evidently, Wrath had given Greed enough trouble to keep him from coming back for me.

I shivered. Wrath had saved me, over himself to boot. I didn't know why; but evidently Wrath had started to genuinely like me in our time together. I shuddered in the breeze. _I don't deserve his friendship, _I thought. _He's in this whole mess because of me. I suck._

My eyes were much better at catching small details when I was a dragon, a fact I realized when I noticed the movement beneath me. I'd been flying for about an hour, and had halved the distance between Central and me. The landscape below had become dotted with small villages, and though I was flying too high to be spotted by human eyes, I was beginning to think that changing back might be a good idea. Of course, I'd need some clothes first…

Anyway, I was floating over a grassy expanse with no villages for a few miles, when I caught the movement. It appeared to be some kind of huge wolf; pounding over the plains as fast as it could run. I stooped into a dive immediately; I wasn't about to fly past this.

I made it down to a better height; I could see the thing now; but it could see me too. It howled up at me; gray sides heaving. It was indeed a massive wolf, with what looked to be playing cars spines poking out along its spine. I froze in the air. Playing cards? Was this… could this be…? Then, I saw the figure crouched on the creature's back, and I knew that I'd seen this creature before.

"Hello, Crystal," I said.

Crystal's head jerked up, and she pulled on the wolf chimera's fur, bringing it to a halt. She spotted me hovering in the sky, and her pale face grew paler. "Who are you?" She snapped.

"Leoma," I said. "Remember me?"

Crystal gaped. "_Leoma? _Since when have you been a weird-looking lizard?"

"I can switch from my normal shape to this," I muttered, miffed. "Weird looking?"

"Sort of," Crystal confided. She looked shaken, but not as surprised as I'd thought. "Well," she said, "That makes two of you." She patted the neck of the chimera absentmindedly.

"Whoa whoa whoa," I said. "Is that…. Psiren?"

"Yep," Crystal said. "I decided that it was time to get the hell out of Central today, and Psiren just… changed. I don't know how; or why. But apparently she can be any kind of chimera she wants to. Which turned out to be pretty helpful."

"That's… really weird," I said. "Also… I wouldn't leave Central just yet if I were you."

"Why not?" Crystal asked.

"Remember the person I asked to find out more about the chimeras? She promised to help. She could already have the answers you're looking for, and if you leave it'll be hard for me to tell you."

Crystal sighed. "Alright," she said. "It's just that… I'm kind of wanted."

My dragon jaw dropped. "Wanted? What have you been doing while I was away?"

"Hiding," Crystal replied sourly. "Apparently it was getting Psiren that got me in so much trouble. They've put up posters and everything." She paused, and put a hand on her face. "I must say, the artist's depiction of me isn't half bad." She grinned.

I rolled my eyes. "This really isn't funny," I said. "Why does Psiren matter to them so much, do you think?"

Crystal shrugged. "I mean, if she can change her shape that _is _pretty useful. The military probably wanted her as a weapon. But I couldn't just leave her there, and I'm not bringing her back, either."

"Yeah," I said, but I had a feeling that Crystal's theory wasn't right. After all, creating chimeras was illegal, and it didn't work for the military the last time they'd tried it. Why would they make something that utterly failed them? No, it made no sense. Inferna was the more likely candidate. I didn't know how, but somehow someone in the military was probably working for her. Maybe she herself was part of the military. Whatever it was, I figured that going back to Central to learn more about the chimeras was a good idea.

"So…" I said. "Do you have any clothes?"

Crystal looked at me suspiciously. "Maybe. Why do you ask?"

"Well, y'see, I sort of, erm, what I'm trying to say is that…"

Realization broke over Crystal's face and she burst out laughing. "Are you _naked _in your normal form? That is hysterical!"

"I suppose," I grumbled. "Clothes?"

"I've got a jacket and an extra skirt, but I sort of don't want to give them to you. What I really want to see is you running around Central trying to find clothes!" She chortled.

"Crystal! Please?"

"Fine," Crystal pouted, pulling off her jacket and throwing it at me. She stretched out her legs and pulled off her black ruffled skirt, revealing the leggings she had underneath. "Sorry, but you don't get any underwear," Crystal said. "Just try not to let that skirt get blown up in a breeze… Oh, you should see your expression right now!"

"Do dragons have expressions?"

"Yeah. Your eyes get all squinty and steam comes out of your nostrils."

"Oh. I hadn't known."

I dropped the jacket, skirt and my sword on the ground. "Turn around, Crystal," I commanded.

She laughed again. "You don't have to be so modest," she said, but complied with my instructions, barely concealing the wide smirk on her face. As soon as she was looking away, I changed back into my normal form and fell to the grass with a dull thump. The pain was immediate and furious, but I kept my mouth shut and it died away.

I quickly pulled on the clothes Crystal had given me. They fit pretty well, although the jacket was a bit big. I zipped it up quickly and tried not to think about how ridiculous I probably looked. "Okay, Crystal, you can turn around now."

She flipped around and snorted. "You look ridiculous."

"Thanks," I said, picking up my sword and striding to Psiren. My legs were starting to feel suspiciously weak, and this feeling only worsened as I neared the chimera and she gave a horrific growl, razor-sharp teeth bared in my direction.

"No, Psiren, she's a friend," Crystal said, patting the chimera's neck. Psiren looked at me suspiciously. "Get over here and let Psiren smell your hand," Crystal commanded.

I stared at the teeth for a moment. "Do I have to?"

"Hurry!" Crystal said, and I walked forward slowly and held out my hand. Psiren leaned out and put her nose directly in my palm, taking a deep sniff. She whined, her tail wagged, and her tongue flicked out of her mouth and dragged all the way up my forearm. "Ooh, that means she likes you," Crystal said approvingly.

"Hooray," I said weakly. "Now, can I please get up there? If I stand any longer I think I'll faint."

"Sure," said Crystal, offering me her hand. She froze when she noticed the automail arm attached to my shoulder. "Hang on… You got the automail surgery?" I nodded. "Don't just stand there, then!" Crystal shrieked, jumping down from Psiren's back and grabbing me around the middle. "You need time to heal, and from the time I last saw you to now isn't nearly enough resting time! I'll help you up." She lifted me easily onto Psiren's back, nestling me in the base of the chimera's neck.

"You should rest up," she said, steering Psiren around by pulling on her fur. "After all, when we get back to Central we're going to have to be very careful. It's gonna be hard getting in; you'll need your strength." I nodded and snuggled against Psiren's fur. It was rough and scratched my unprotected skin, but it was warm and I was suddenly very cold. Teeth chattering, I curled up in Crystal's warm jacket and allowed myself to close my eyes.

I slipped into an uneasy doze for the next few hours, constantly being awoken by the danger of slipping off Psiren and falling onto the ground below. By the time the city of Central loomed on the horizon, I was awake and in a terrible mood. I glared at the city in front of me as though it were the cause of my distress.

"Here we are," Crystal said. Gently, she pulled me off Psiren's back and turned to the chimera. "Change into something small, now, if you please." Psiren turned to us, and suddenly the giant wolf melted away, to be replaced by the little creature she'd been the first time I'd seen her. Crystal handed her to me. "Put her down your jacket," she said, without preamble.

"Does she bite?" I asked, tentatively placing the little chimera against my bare stomach. I could feel her tiny claws scrabbling against my flesh, and suddenly a set of needle-sharp teeth pinched my stomach. I yelped, and Crystal nodded.

"She'll probably only bite you once, though, unless you jostle her around too much." She reached into the back pocket of her khakis and pulled out what looked to be a red mask, which she placed on her face.

"You're disguising yourself with _that_?" I asked, amazed. "That makes you even more conspicuous!"

"Not if you've got one too," Crystal said, tossing another mask at me. I caught it on one hand and placed it over my face slowly. "There," Crystal said. "Now we just look like two tourists who don't necessarily want our identity to be known. People are always wearing weird things in Central, after all. In that band of freaks, how could we not fit in?"

"I suppose," I said, staring at the city. It looked to be an hour's walk away, and I sighed. "I hate walking," I said, and started trudging towards the city.

We made it in two hours, due to the fact that I collapsed rather frequently. I hated having such a weak body, but soon I'd be able to move both it and my arm again. I figured the surgery was better than not having an arm, at any rate.

We entered the city slowly, trying not to look suspicious and no doubt failing miserably. Psiren was wriggling underneath the jacket, and I held my arms over my stomach, willing no one to notice the lump. Whenever we passed someone in uniform, I flinched, but Crystal only nodded at them confidently and kept on moving. The sword clutched in my palm only added to our strange appearance, and I considered ditching it for a second before scrapping the idea. I needed my sword.

I blinked up at the sight of Central Command. I hadn't noticed we'd been walking towards the place, but now that we were here, a knot of fear had settled in my belly. Quickly, I caught up to Crystal and grabbed her shoulder. "Are you insane?" I hissed in her ear. "Why the hell are we here?"

"To divert suspicion," Crystal whispered back. "Who would expect a wanted girl and her trusty sidekick to show up here?"

I considered it. "No one," I admitted. "Whoa- trusty sidekick?"

Crystal smirked; I could see her lips curve upwards under the mask. "Come on, sidekick," she said. "Let's get to that apartment of yours."

"It's not mine, actually," I explained. "It's Colonel Mustang's, remember?" Crystal nodded, but she wasn't looking at me.

"Speak of the devil," she said. "Look who's marching in our general direction right now!" I looked. And panicked.

"Gaah, Crystal, it's the Colonel! He'll recognize me, I know he will, and then you'll get found out!"

"Quit worrying," Crystal said. She grabbed me by the elbow and swung me around until I was leaning against a lamppost next to her. "Now pretend to just be hanging out with me," Crystal said softly. "He won't notice a thing."

I took a deep breath and relaxed, looking at Crystal as though we were two perfectly normal friends enjoying each other's company. I heard the clacking of boots, and did my best not to stiffen as the Colonel stepped into my view. His onyx eye was dark with anger, and he had a black cloak on that swirled around his ankles as he stormed forward. There was a cowering man behind him, looking nervous and carrying a stack of papers.

The Colonel's head jerked sharply to the left, and I held my breath as he stopped and his gaze traveled over me. But then, just as quickly, he turned his back to me and stared down the man in front of him. "Damn it, Fuery! Where the hell could she be?"

"I don't know, sir," Fuery said, cowering a little. "I mean, if she disappeared from her room with the homunculus Wrath… for all we know, he kidnapped her to kill her." The Colonel growled.

"If that's the case, I'll tear that homunculus limb from limb," he said curtly. He sighed suddenly and put a hand to his head. "I can't believe this," he said. "The news is going to kill Alphonse and that Noah girl. Somebody should tell them, and I suppose that someone should be me." He turned around swiftly. "I want you to get Havoc and Breda on this immediately. If there's any chance that we can find her, we're going to take it." He started walking again, heading down the sidewalk to his apartment, no doubt. Fuery followed him close behind. As soon as they were out of sight, I sighed and slumped against the lamppost.

"I have to go tell them," I said, slipping off my mask. "I really don't want to scare Noah and Al like that, and Ed and Winry are probably worried sick."

"Yes, you have to tell them, but not right now!" Crystal yelped. "Put your mask back on!" Her eyes darted wildly around the square, and narrowed as she noticed something. "Now you've done it," she groaned. "See you around, Leoma." Before I could stop her, her hands were down my jacket, and she scooped up Psiren. She hurried off into the crowd, and was gone in seconds.

I gaped. "Crystal- huh?" A pair of strong arms encircled me from behind, and I wriggled for a second before realizing that it was Jay who was holding me.

"Leoma!" He shouted, in my ear. "What happened? I called the Colonel's, and he told me you'd gotten the automail surgery!" He held me out and his eyes widened when he saw my new arm. "It's true…" he said, the color draining from his face. "How are you even walking? You should be in bed."

"I would be if that idiot Greed hadn't kidnapped me," I grumbled. Jay stared.

"Greed?" He said slowly. "Another homunculus is back?"

"Yeah," I said. "I managed to escape from him, though." Jay glowered.

"How dare he," he growled. "When I catch that homunculus he's going to pay."

I groaned. "I'm so tired!" I exclaimed. "I've barely been here, and I'm already fed up of chasing the bad guys. Chimeras, homunculi, weird ladies who control said homunculi… If they'd just give me a five-minute break!"

Jay blinked slowly. "Chimera?" He asked; looking strangely nervous. "Are they important, do you think?"

I nodded. "Definitely," I said, and he sighed.

"Leoma… If I showed you something, would you promise to keep it a secret?" He hung his head, looking genuinely afraid that I'd tell him 'no.'

"Of course I would!" I said. "Unless it was something really bad, like a dead body." Jay grinned weakly.

"It's not that bad," he said, grasping my shoulder and turning me around. "Come with me, Leoma," he added, pulling me gently down the sidewalk.

"There's someone I want you to meet."


	15. Death

I followed Jay slowly, still holding the hilt of my sword. Jay hadn't asked me about it, and I hadn't explained, either. Besides, he looked like he had something big on his mind, and now wasn't the time to be babbling about the sword I'd picked up during a fight with a homunculus on a train going to an undisclosed location. Maybe later I'd mention it, but for now I wanted to see what Jay had to show me.

After a few minutes, he turned and went to open a door to an apartment building that was stationed over a meat shop. The rich smells of meats dipped in no doubt incredible sauces assailed me, and my stomach growled. Jay looked back at me concernedly. "You hungry? I'll get you something upstairs."

"Thanks," I said. "I can't remember the last time I had something to eat. The whole time I was recovering from the automail surgery I just didn't feel up to food, but now I'm starving."

Jay leaned up against his door and looked at me. "So, what? Are you fully recovered?"

I laughed weakly and shook my head. "Not at all," I said. "Right now I feel fine, but if I have to walk much farther I'll probably collapse. And I won't even be able to move the limb for months."

Jay sighed. "Do me a favor and go to bed after this, okay? You look awful."

"Thanks."

"No, really," Jay persisted. He put a hand on my shoulder and looked at me with his totally sincere blue eyes. "I'm worried about you. You run around like you don't care if you get yourself killed."

"I don't," I muttered. "Come on, Jay. Don't worry about me."

"But we're friends," Jay said. I very nearly opened my mouth to tell him off, but I closed it with a snap. _Alright, Jay, _I thought to myself. _Alright. I'll be your friend. I mean, I guess we are friends now. _I liked Jay. He was strange and at times very annoying, but I liked him. He was probably going to turn out to be a pretty good friend, too. He seemed loyal and caring, qualities I had no choice to admire, seeing as I had a feeling that I myself had none of these admirable traits.

"I'll be careful," I promised him, and his eyes lit up.

"Good," he said, opening the door and beckoning me inside the vestibule. I nearly fainted at the sight of the rickety stairs stretching away into darkness.

"Oh, crap," I said. "Stairs."

"What?" Jay asked, immediately by my side. "Can you not walk up stairs or something?"

I shrugged one shoulder. "I don't know. I hadn't tried it before that asshole Greed kidnapped me. I guess we're about to find out, though."

The first flight of stairs was okay. At the top, though, I fell over and decided that spending the rest of my life on the landing wasn't such a bad idea. In the end, Jay had to hoist me up and carry me up the next four flights of stairs to his apartment. I wasn't sure, but I was cold and felt shivery, and I felt like I had a fever coming on. All the more reason to be grateful for Jay's gallant nature.

"Thanks, Jay," I sighed, as he deposited me in front of his door. "You're a lifesaver."

He grinned at me. "You know it," he said. He looked at the sword still clutched in my hand and frowned. "Do you have a sheath for that or something?" I shook my head. "Could you give it to me, then?"

"Why?" I asked, drawing it closer to me. "I'm kind of partial to this sword."

"Trust me," Jay said. "If you walk into my apartment with a naked sword, you'll regret it."

"Jay…" I said slowly, handing the sword to him. "What exactly do you have in your apartment?"

He ignored me, opening the door instead. "Let me go in first," he said. "You can wait for a few minutes, and then come in too." He slipped inside the room and shut the door behind him.

I waited. I've never had much patience for waiting, especially with something interesting right there. Interesting and most likely dangerous. The fact that I couldn't walk into Jay's apartment with a naked sword didn't exactly fill me with confidence. What did he have in there, a giant magnet? And what the hell would a giant magnet have to do with anything?

_That's it, _I decided. _I'm going in. It's been a few minutes._

I crossed to the door and turned the handle stepping inside the room. I kept my eyes to the floor as I closed the door behind me, sort of dreading what I was going to see. There was a deep, growling sort of purr coming from the center of the room. Jay had a cat, right? But this was loud for a little tiny cat. Slowly, I looked up, and my jaw dropped.

The chimera filled up the room with gold. It was huge; it's back pressed up against the ceiling and its legs looked taller than me. It looked like a huge lion, golden and beautiful, with a cat-like demeanor. It had a ruffled sort of mane and short golden fur covering its body. Its canines were bared, and, as I watched, it began to pad towards me.

I caught Jay's eye. He was sitting in an armchair in the corner of the room. "Meet Bean," he said. "And don't move too quickly, or he'll bite your head off."

"Bean. Chimera. _Huge_," I squeaked, standing perfectly still. The chimera was right in front of me now, muzzle mere inches from my chest. He began to growl deep in its throat. "Jay!"

Apparently it was instinctive, because my wings unfurled from my back and slit through Crystal's jacket, at the same time that Bean's mouth opened to reveal rows of pearly white teeth and red slimy flesh. He snarled, took a deep breath, and froze. Slowly, he inhaled again, and his mouth snapped shut. His head snaked around me, and he gently pressed his large black nose into my wings. For another moment, he breathed, and then his huge pink tongue flicked out of his mouth and he licked me from head to toe.

"You made it," Jay said, sounding relieved. "I was positive he'd like you, but I wasn't sure until your wings showed up. Before that he looked like he was going to eat you."

"No kidding," I said weakly. Behind me, Bean was purring thunderously. He yawned toothily and flopped to the ground, his head pressing against my legs. Weakly, I flopped to the ground too and rested against Bean's silky mane. "I wonder why it was the wings that changed his mind…" _Could I be a chimera after all? I just don't know. Everything's getting stranger and stranger._

Jay sat down behind me and began to scratch Bean on the top of the head. "Who knows? Bean is a cat, after all."

"A huge, chimera-cat," I said. "Jay, I have to ask. _Why the hell do you have a chimera in your apartment?_"

Jay sighed. "When I first came to Central, I stormed into Central Command, certain that I was going to get answers. All I got was an hour in the interrogation room for being related to my father. By the time they finally let me out, I was furious. Instead of going home like I probably should have, I decided to look around Central Command myself for a bit. After they'd escorted me from the premises, I snuck back in and took a look around. I didn't find anything about the homunculi, but I found Bean." At the mention of his name, Bean mewed and nuzzled Jay's back.

"They had him in a small room with some scientist lady working on him. Well, I zapped her with my alchemy to knock her out for a few hours and took off with Bean. I couldn't leave him there; that lady had him strapped down and was about to inject him with this weird red-ish black liquid. I hid him under my coat and…"

"You hid _him _under your coat?"

"He was a lot smaller back then. Anyway, I took off and brought him back home. I didn't have anything to do about the situation, so I just fed him and named him Bean. He got quite a bit bigger, though." We both laughed. Jay sighed again. "I guess I should have told someone, but I didn't want to let the military take Bean back."

"So the military's making chimeras again," I said, to myself. "Why would they be doing that? It didn't work out last time."

Jay shrugged. "Who the hell knows?" He said. "I thought maybe you knew, because you mentioned chimeras earlier. You're the first person I've ever let Bean meet."

"I don't know much," I said. "I'm trying to learn more. Basically, I just found out that there's some crazy lady who's controlling the homunculi, and I feel like she has something to do with the chimeras."

Jay perked up. "A crazy lady who's controlling the homunculi? Is that a lead?"

"Sort of," I said. "Apparently, she's housed in the Underground City right now. Maybe we should check it out."

"Hell yes we should!" Jay said, eyes sparkling. His hand curled into a fist. "When I finally meet those homunculi, they're going to wish they'd never been born."

"Created," I corrected, and bit my lip. "Shoot."

"What's the matter?"

"I have to call Ed and Winry," I said. "Greed the Total Asshole kidnapped me while I was in their care. They're probably worried."

"They're probably on a train to Central right now," Jay said. "How about you try calling and I make us some sandwiches? The phone's on the coffee table."

"Thanks, Jay," I sighed, picking up the phone. I tried three times, but apparently Jay was right; Granny Pinako picked up on the third and told me that they'd already left for Central. She seemed happy enough that I was alive, which was gratifying. Jay returned with the sandwiches and a raw steak for Bean, and we ate.

"Next on my list: Al, Sheska, and the Colonel and Riza," I said. I dialed the number, trying to ignore the sounds of Jay playing tug-of-war with Bean.

"Hello? Who is this?" Al's voice crackled over the phone, and I winced internally; he sounded tired, and afraid, and decidedly unhappy.

"Hey, Al," I said. "It's me, Leoma."

"Leoma? What happened? The Colonel just walked in here and said you'd gone missing! Hey- Colonel Mustang!" I heard the sounds of a scuffle, and then the Colonel's typically angry voice replaced Al's.

"Leoma- what the hell happened?"

"I was kidnapped," I replied sourly. "By a homunculus. And no, it wasn't Wrath. It was another one; Greed. He took Wrath too. I managed to get out, but Greed still has Wrath. Apparently, the homunculi's mistress really wants to meet with me."

There was a silence from the other end. "Are you alright?" The Colonel asked, finally.

"I'm okay," I said. "The automail hurts like hell, but I'm still alive, aren't I?"

"Where are you now?"

"Jay Archer's. I just got back to Central."

"How?"

"I flew. This is sort of starting to feel like an interrogation…"

The Colonel sighed into the phone. "Everybody's yelling at me on this end," he complained. "They all want to know something. Noah just handed me a piece of paper that says… 'Leoma, I hope you're okay and that your automail doesn't hurt too much, and next time would you please actually take the time to really explain the situation before disappearing off somewhere…'"

"Could you tell her I'm sorry, and that it won't happen again?"

"I hate being the messenger," the Colonel grumbled. "Okay Noah, she says she's sorry and that it won't happen again."

"So, Colonel," I said. "Could you maybe put Sheska on? I need to ask her about something."

"Alright," the Colonel said. "And, one more thing… I'm glad you didn't die."

"Thanks," I said, but Sheska was already on.

"Hey, Sheska," I said, but she was already talking.

"Leoma," she said. Her voice sounded anxious, and I could just picture her, biting her nails and looking around, her eyes darting from face to face. "I found out what you wanted to know."

"That's great!" I said. "What is it?"

"I don't want to say it over the phone. They can be tapped, you know? So I want you to meet me at the park in Central, at the phone booth where Mr. Hughes was murdered. If you're at Jay's, you should be down there in a few minutes, and that will give me time to collect all the things I need to show you."

"Alright, Sheska," I said, and I could imagine her smile. Something inside me twisted. "Thank you… so much, for everything. Especially this. You could have gotten seriously hurt, researching this."

"Oh, Leoma," Sheska said, laughing a little. "It was a pleasure, it really was." The phone went dead, and I turned to Jay.

"I have a date," I said. "I have to go down to the park by Central Command to meet Sheska. Apparently, she has information about the chimeras for me."

"I'm in," Jay said, immediately. "It would be nice to know why Bean was created."

"I guess we should go, then," I said. "Goodbye, Bean." I patted the chimera on the head, and his golden eyes winked at me.

By the time I finally made it down the stairs, the sky had bled into an inky black. It was a full moon, and, although most things don't really scare me, that night was chill and I felt shivers running down my spine. It was almost a sense of foreboding, I realized, and rubbed my hair absentmindedly, pressing closer to Jay. He seemed to have the feeling too, because he was quiet as we walked into the park. As we walked through the wrought-iron entrance gates, a little breeze started up, and although it wasn't fierce, it was cold. _Something's not right, _my instincts whispered. _There's something wrong with this situation._

We started up the path, and I thought how much scarier the park looked in the night when there weren't little kids playing there. Each tree looked skeletal. Each shadow looked menacing. _Oh, come on, Leoma, _I thought to myself. _You're tougher than this. Lighten up._

I looked up and blinked. "Here we are."

Jay nodded. "Do you want to sit down on a bench or something?" He asked, putting his hand lightly on my shoulder. My automail shoulder.

I sprawled into the bushes, doing my best not to sob with pain but not quite succeeding. Jay's light touch had sent waves of pain across my whole body, and I felt sick to the core. Jay crashed into the bushes next to me. "Leoma? Leoma? Are you alright? Oh God, what did I do to you?"

"I'm fine," I whispered, in a cracked voice. "Just… don't move me or anything. Let's just stay here for a few minutes, shall we? And, whatever you do, don't touch my arm."

Jay sighed and lay next to me in the dirt. "I'm sorry, Leoma," he began, but I shushed him.

"It's alright," I whispered. "Also, for the record, you landed in a puddle of water."

"I was wondering what that was," Jay said, rubbing his now wet head. He turned his eyes back to me. "I am really sorry, though, and I…"

"Shut up, Jay!" I hissed, and his mouth snapped shut. "There's someone coming!"

"… and the bitch escaped. Naked, too, for the record." _That voice is unsettlingly familiar._

"She's much more powerful than any of us anticipated." _Oh crap, is this for real?_

_ Greed? Envy?_

I clapped a hand over Jay's mouth, and we watched as the homunculi strolled into view. "Do you want to just wait here for the bookworm woman?" Greed asked Envy. "I'm sure she'll show up eventually, along with that bitch Leoma. And when that happens… you take the woman, alright? I'm going to teach Leoma a lesson she won't forget in a while. Oh, the joys of phone tapping."

"Not a chance," Envy said immediately. "You're not supposed to injure her; Inferna said specifically. In fact, she ordered you not to, and because of the Red Stone Oath you made to her, you have to follow her orders. Whereas I, on the other hand, can do whatever I want." He smirked.

"Oh, shut up," Greed growled.

I winced in pain as Jay tapped me lightly on the neck. Before I could move, his hands were cupped around my ear and he was whispering to me intently. "Those are two homunculi out there," he whispered. "That's it; I'm going to take them."

"No," I hissed. "Bad idea. That's Greed and Envy out there; they're both pretty tough."

Jay's eyes sparked with a wild light. "I don't care," he whispered. "They're going to die." He made to get up, and frowned as he saw me doing the same. "No," he whispered. "You can't come."

"Oh, I'm coming, alright," I said.

"_No_," Jay said again. "You can barely walk up a flight of stairs without my help, you left your sword at my apartment, and you want to help me fight two homunculi?"

"Yes," I hissed. _If I can get involved in this fight, hopefully I can get Envy the hell out before Jay kills him. Or the other way around._

Jay shook his head again and got to his knees. When he saw me shifting and getting to my knees as well, he sighed. "Leoma," he said. "Are you going to follow me, no matter what I tell you to do?" I nodded. "Then I'm really sorry," he murmured, and dipped his hand into the puddle.

His full intent hit me like a ton of bricks and I tried to scramble away, but Jay clapped his hands. A bolt of pure white light shot from his palm and hit me in the chest, and I gasped and fell to the earth. I could feel almost immediately that I was paralyzed. "You'll be able to move again in about a quarter of an hour," Jay said apologetically. "I'll come get you right after this is over. And, I'm really, really, _really _sorry."

_You dumb bastard, _I thought to myself, glaring at him as best as I could with facial muscles that refused to move. _As soon as I can move again, I am going to beat you up, no question. And you better as hell get rid of these homunculi or Sheska… What do they want with her, anyway? And why did they choose tonight to make their move?_ _Probably because I'm supposed to show up, but why should Envy have to deal with Sheska? What does that mean, exactly?_

My heart turned to ice. _You know what it means, Leoma, _I thought to myself. _The homunculi never wanted anyone to have information about the chimeras. Envy wouldn't even tell me. So that means…_

_ They've been sent here to kill Sheska._

I tried desperately to move, to warn Jay about Sheska's impending demise. But Jay was already heading out of the bushes, into the light, where Greed and Envy were still standing around. In unison, they turned. Envy frowned when he saw Jay. "Oh, it's you," he said. "The little lightening alchemist boy. What do _you _want?"

Jay rubbed his hands together. "It's simple," he said. "I want to kill you. Both of you."

"What?" Greed asked, in mock trepidation. "I haven't done anything to you."

"You're a homunculus," Jay said, "and that's enough." He rubbed his still wet hands at Greed and clapped once, hard. There was a brilliant flash, and Greed stumbled back and fell hard against the pavement, a bloody hole in his back. "Well, that was easy," Jay said, turning to Envy. "I wonder how long it will take to kill _you_. A few seconds longer, maybe?"

Envy grimaced. "I hate kids like you," he snarled. "Wanting to kill us just because we're not human. Please. It's pathetic."

Jay laughed harshly. "Are there any humans who don't feel that way about homunculi?" He asked. "I doubt it."

Envy smirked. "I've met one," he said.

"Right," Jay said, sarcastically. "Anyway, this isn't the only reason I want to destroy you."

"Oh? What's the other?"

"You homunculi killed my father," Jay hissed, his eyes darkening until I could hardly recognize them as that of my friend. "My name is Jay Archer, and I'm going to destroy you."

"Archer, huh?" Jay froze, and turned around slowly. A fully armored Greed was standing behind him, smiling. "That's interesting. Do you miss your dearly beloved daddy?"

"Shut up!" Jay snarled, clapping his hands. Another lightning bolt shot from his palms and drove into Greed, forcing him back a few paces. This time, though, it dissipated against his armored skin.

"Ha ha," he laughed, stretching out his claws. "The water on your hands must be just about dry by now, and that shot had no effect on me. There's a fountain a little ways up the path, but to get to it, you'll have to get past me. Are you ready?"

Jay laughed too. "Please," he said. "As if you could ever contain me." He lunged for Greed and the homunculus slashed at him, but Jay planted his boot firmly in the homunculus' palm and catapulted over him. He landed on the other side of Greed and immediately took off running down the path. Greed winked at Envy.

"Never believe a homunculus," he laughed. "Fountain? Dumb kid. He was probably surprised I even knew how his alchemy worked." He started to hurry off in Jay's direction, but then paused. "I'll keep the lightening alchemist away from here so the bookworm woman and Leoma don't get suspicious. I'll stay out of the picture until you're finished, okay?"

"Sure," Envy said, and Greed took off. _No, no, NO! _I thought. _Don't do it, Envy, I'm begging you. Don't kill Sheska. She was my first friend in this world. Please. _I felt a tear trickling out of one of my eyes, from the pain probably, but I knew in my heart it was for Sheska. _Please…_

Envy sat down on a park bench and sighed. "Any minute now," he muttered. "The both of you sure are taking a long time…"

We both heard it at the same time. The sound of feet, hurrying along to make it to the phone booth. I gasped and struggled desperately. I could sort of move my fingers, but it wasn't enough. Envy was already slipping behind a tree to see who was coming. He was actually standing next to my prone form. _Look down, you stupid bastard, look down. _His eyes remained trained on the path.

Sheska walked into the circle of light from one of the streetlights. She looked surprised to see me not there, but she shrugged and placed all of her heavy-looking books on the bench. I looked up at Envy to see him transforming, his body shifting into my own. _No! _I screamed mentally. _Don't do it, Envy! NO!_

"I wonder where Leoma is," Sheska said.

"I'm right here," Envy said, stepping into the light. "Sorry I was late."

"That's alright," Sheska said. She moved towards her books, but Envy stopped her with a wide smile. _That's my face, you creep, _I thought to myself_. How dare you use it like this! How dare you!_

Envy opened his arms wide. _Come on, Sheska, _I thought. _I just got the automail surgery; I wouldn't be able to do that! Don't believe him! It's not me, it's not me, it's not me! _"I haven't seen you in forever," Envy said. "Don't you think I deserve a hug?"

Sheska laughed. "Well, yes, of course," she said. "I'm sorry, it's just that this whole business with the chimeras has me all mixed up." She moved towards the imposter, arms open wide as well. _NO. _There was a tingling in my body, and I felt that in a few seconds, my movement would return. _Come on! _I screamed inside. _Hurry up! Come ON!_

Sheska reached Envy and wrapped her arms around him. "It's good to see you again…" she said, and froze.

My body became my own again, and I lunged to my feet, crashing through the bushes. _HURRY! _Panting, I hurled myself onto the path, just in time to see Envy's hand transform into a knife-like blade and stab Sheska through the stomach.

The moment was frozen. Envy, still in my form, turned his head and caught me standing at the edge of the path. His eyes widened, and he went still. Sheska was hunched over Envy's hand, the back of it protruding from her spine. Her glasses had fallen from the edge of her nose, and tinkled against the pavement. There was blood on her lips.

"NO!" I screamed, dashing to her. Envy was transforming back into himself, pulling his arm out of Sheska's stomach. It made a dull wet sound as he released her.

"Leoma?" He asked. "What?" I ignored him completely and shoved him away from my friend as hard as I could. She had fallen to the ground and was curled in the fetal position, shivering uncontrollably. Sweat trickled down her face and blood pooled around her.

"Sheska," I sobbed, falling to my knees. She looked up in confusion, her eyes glazed with pain.

"Leoma?" She whispered. "You stabbed me." Her voice was dry and cracking.

"It wasn't me," I explained tearfully, rubbing the water away from my eyes furiously. "It was Envy, Sheska. I would never."

Sheska nodded painfully, a little more blood leaking from the corner of her mouth. "I… should have realized," she muttered. "Leoma… I can't see anything."

"Here you go," I sobbed, picking up her glasses and placing them gently over her eyes. One of the lenses was cracked. Sheska sighed.

"Better," she whispered. "Stay with me."

"I'll stay," I whispered, but she caught my jacket with one bloody hand and pulled me closer, so close that her sweaty hair tickled my cheek. Her bleeding lips were close against my ear.

"The chimeras," she whispered furiously. "I don't know why, but…" She coughed a little. "It… it… The Assembly," she whispered. "The one not quite right… _Kamvria Mayke_." She coughed again and gasped, contorting underneath me. Her hands clutched at my jacket, digging through the fabric and into my skin. I didn't flinch. "Leoma…" She whispered, and smiled at me, eyes dimming. They shut slowly, and the smile slipped off her face, along with her glasses. Her tense hand released me and thudded to the ground, splashing in the pool of blood around her.

She was dead.

Sheska, my first friend in Amestris, was dead.

"SHESKA!" I screamed, falling onto her corpse and clutching it tightly to my chest. Blood was everywhere. "Sheska! Don't leave me yet. It's all my fault- oh God, Sheska, it's my fault; I never got to tell you how sorry I was. You must hate me…" I buried my face in her hair and sobbed. Her body was warm beneath mine, but it was getting colder. _Dead… It's my fault… She's dead._

Slowly, I lifted my face from Sheska's hair. The night was cooler than ever now, and I began to shiver. My huge eyes found Envy, sitting on the bench where Sheska's books had previously been. What was left of them was a pile of wet scraps. He'd destroyed them all.

I got to my feet like an automaton. I was trembling now, with rage. My wings popped out of my back, and my teeth elongated. "Envy…" I whispered, and he turned to me. "You BASTARD!" I screamed, throwing myself at him.

He stood up in time for me to slam into him bodily. My claws slashed at his face maniacally, but every time they slipped off the surface of the invisible force around him, the force that I had helped to create when I swore never to kill him. "I wish I'd never met you!" I sobbed helplessly, pummeling his chest with my fists. "I HATE you!"

"Leoma," he began, but I smacked him as hard as I could across the face.

"SHUT UP!" I screamed. "Don't speak to me! I hate you, you bastard! I HATE YOU!"

"_Leoma_," Envy hissed. "Shut up, you dumbass. Greed's coming back."

"I DON'T CARE- MMLP." Envy clapped a hand over my mouth and shoved me hard into the bushes. He kept one foot firmly planted on my neck, preventing me from going anywhere. Tears of rage were leaking from my eyes, but I didn't make a sound. I had no desire to be kidnapped by Greed _again_.

"Hey, Envy," Greed said. "Looks like you got the woman."

"Yeah," Envy said. "There's no trace of the girl, though. Did you kill that lightening bastard?"

"No," Greed sighed. "I think he figured out eventually that there was no fountain, and he took off. He looked pretty lost, so he won't be showing up again here, but still. Inferna is not gonna be happy."

"Whatever," Envy said. "Go back to the base. I'm going to clean things up here. Leoma's not showing up, I can tell. She would have been here by now."

"Suit yourself," Greed said, looking in distaste at Sheska's bloody corpse. He grinned suddenly. "I thought this night would never be over. I invited some cute women over to my apartment; they must be furious by now." Envy rolled his eyes.

"Poor you," he grumbled. "Just go, Greed. Greed nodded and strolled off into the night. As soon as he was gone, Envy was crouched in the bushes next to me.

"Are you alright?" He asked, sounding concerned.

"Shut up," I hissed at him. "Don't talk to me. I don't ever want to hear your stupid, lying, murdering voice again."

Envy frowned. "That's a shame," he snapped, "Because, like it or not, I'm not leaving you out here alone."

"If you put one finger on me I'll break it off, you bastard," I snarled. "What do you not understand about 'I hate you'?"

"Fine," the homunculus hissed, getting up. "Stay out here. It doesn't make a difference to me at all." He turned quickly and strode away into the darkness.

I stared after him for a bit. Slowly, I crawled to where Sheska still lay. My muscles felt weak, and I coughed lightly. "Sheska," I whispered, laying down beside her and flipping over to stare at the stars. "I don't think I can move anymore." I tried a finger. It wouldn't budge. Apparently, all the things I'd been doing the past day had overworked me, and I was paying for it now.

I heard a twig snap, and suddenly Envy's head was blocking the velvet sky. "You stupid human," he said, kneeling beside me. "Did you honestly think I was going to leave you here?"

"I hoped you would," I said. "Leave me alone." My hand was on top of Sheska's, and I found the energy to squeeze tightly. Envy's eyes followed the movement.

"We're going," he said firmly.

"No."

"Come on." He reached out and scooped me up, lifting me in the air.

"Put me DOWN!" I screamed, doing my best to struggle. All I managed to do was drop Sheska's hand. I didn't want to cry in front of Envy, but hot tears were pouring down my face despite my best efforts to keep them from doing exactly that.

Envy sighed. He reached up and pulled his headband out of his hair. It fell around his face in a glossy carpet as he studied the band he held for a minute. "Sorry," he said, and whipped it around my head so suddenly I didn't have a chance to make a sound. He twisted it firmly into my mouth, making even my loudest shrieks sound like quiet murmurs.

_You bastard, _I thought. _Forget beating up Jay; I'm going to tear you apart. Oh, Sheska…_

I stared up at Envy with an expression I felt was probably murderous. He didn't look down once; instead choosing to keep his eyes firmly averted from me. He started to run, but I continued to glare at him. _I don't care where we're going, _I told myself. _The bastard could be taking me to Inferna, for all I care. Maybe he is._

We ran for about a quarter of an hour before Envy stopped. I could see what looked like the door to an apartment building in my peripheral vision, and Envy opened it and stepped inside. I could feel him carrying me up the stairs, and opening another door. He paused at the threshold, and then stepped inside, flicking on the lights. He went immediately to one of the few doors lining a short hallway in the room and opened it, revealing an incredibly neat bedroom. Envy tossed me on the bed without a word and sat beside me. Without meeting my gaze, he pulled the headband out of my mouth and threw it on a desk beside the bed. "Can you move yet?"

"No," I said. "You'll know when I can, because I'll be throttling you."

Envy put his head in his hands. "I'm sorry," he whispered. I blinked.

"What?"

"You heard me," he said, getting louder. He turned to look at me, violet eyes filled with emotion. My heart throbbed. He'd never looked at me like this before. "I'm sorry, okay? I didn't know it would upset you so much."

"It isn't about upsetting _me_, you dumb bastard!" I hissed, sitting up and grabbing him by the shoulders. _Looks like I can move again._ "You killed Sheska! How the hell can you even live with yourself?" I shoved him, hard enough that he fell out of the bed and onto the floor. I didn't let him escape; I slipped out of bed myself and fell on top of him, pinning him to the ground. "I don't know why I trusted you," I snarled. "You murderer." The ugly words were tearing out of me, burning my tongue with poison, but I didn't stop. How could I stop? I needed someone to blame, and someone was here, conveniently. _But it's not Envy's fault, Leoma, _my reasonable inner voice pointed out. _Who asked her to research all these dangerous things? It was you._

I ignored the little voice and focused on Envy. He was the one who stabbed her, not me. "I wish I'd never sworn anything to you," I continued. "I was a fool for believing that you meant what you said that day, you no good bastard. I…"

Envy moved under me, and he slapped me hard across the face. The words forcing themselves from my lips died, and stars exploded behind my eyes. Envy wasn't done, though. He grabbed me by the wrist and forced my gaze to him. "Don't you understand?" He asked. "I didn't kill that woman because I wanted to. I killed her because I had to. Don't you see? I was following orders, Leoma. Inferna's orders." His face was already close to mine, but he pressed closer, until the tips of our noses were touching, very lightly. "Do you think I enjoyed it? I didn't, not at all. But I did it because I had to." Apparently he was done, because he released me. His violet eyes were angry, and they watched mine closely, tracking their every movement. I felt angry tears flooding in my eyes again. My lungs burned and I felt a hole in my chest. Abruptly, I pictured Sheska's smiling face in my head. There was no blood. Her glasses were intact.

_Oh Sheska, _I asked. _What do I do?_

Sheska gazed at me seriously, rubbing her glasses. She grinned. _If it's alright for Winry to forgive Roy Mustang, don't you think maybe you can forgive Envy too?_

_I'm so sorry, Sheska-_

_ Don't be. It was a pleasure, remember? Besides. _She waved a hand. _I can go on now, to Mr. Hughes, and my mother. Did I tell you? While you were away, my mother died. Now I can be with them all again._

I swallowed. _Goodbye, Sheska._

_ Goodbye, Leoma. _She turned her back to me, and walked quickly away; the darkness swallowing her.

"Leoma? Are you alright?" Envy was shaking me. He still looked mad, but nervous too.

"Alright? Of course not," I said. My heart throbbed, and I stared into the eyes of someone I realized that I couldn't hate. The floodgates broke, and I made my decision.

"Envy… Oh God, Envy…" My moving arm was wrapped around his chest; our second embrace. The last time I had held him like this, I had been trying to kill him, I remembered idly. How the times change.

Envy was stiff as a board underneath me, but gradually he began to move again. His muscles slid fluidly underneath my ribs as he reached out and stroked my back gently, in time to my sobs. I hoped he didn't mind that I was getting his neck all wet, but I had a feeling that if he did, I'd be halfway across the room by now.

I was still crying when he slid out from underneath me and picked me up. He carried me back to the bed and placed me in it, rubbing my hair now. I figured that he'd leave after that, but to my surprise he slipped in the space between the wall and me, still patting my head. At first he'd seemed awkward at it, but he'd developed a sort of comforting rhythm that made me sleepy.

"Envy," I yawned, turning over unconsciously and curling in a ball, my head pressed against his hard flat stomach. "I'm sorry, Envy."

"That's okay, Leoma. Now stop crying and go to sleep." I closed my eyes dutifully, but a few stray tears still slipped out from under my lashes. I could feel Envy wiping them away, and I smiled. _I'm still mad at you, _I thought. _And yet, I'm not. What's happening to me? _Sleep was dragging me into a downward spiral, and the last thing I thought before unconsciousness was this: _I'm probably the first human in history to knowingly and willingly sleep in the same bed as Envy. I'm not even scared. How odd. _

And then I fell asleep, and the rest of my thoughts quieted until the morning.


End file.
